February is National Cherry Month and Friday is National Cherry Pie Day. Cherry pie may be a classic American dish but it is believed to have originated in the 1500s in England. Colonists brought cherries and cherry trees and pie-making when they arrived in North America. Their cherries were different from what we know today. Cherry trees thrived in this country, especially in Michigan. The first documented cherry pie was presented to Queen Elizabeth 1 of England as bakers shifted to making fruit pies called cofyns which had been normally made with meat fillings. The hard pastry was just for baking and storage not eating. The crust we eat today with our pies evolved from this inedible container somewhere between 1774 and 1783 during the American Revolution. Virginia has a rich cherry history. In recent years, archaeologists have discovered 250-year-old preserved cherries at George Washington’s Mount Vernon. John Smith’s accounts and 17th century recipes mention cherries in Colonial Vir...