322 THE CHINA STUDY
DR. SPROUTS
Long before our country was founded, Dutch pioneers had settled in
the Hudson Valley north of New York City. One of these settler families
were the Esselstyns. They started farming a plot of land in 1675. Nine
generations later, that farm still belongs to the Esselstyn family. Dr. Es-
selstyn and his wife Ann own the several-hundred-acre Hudson Valley
farm, just over two hours north of New York City. They spent the sum-
mer of 2003 living in the country, working the farm, growing a garden,
hosting their kids and grandkids and enjoying a more relaxed life than
what they're used to in Cleveland, Ohio.
Ess and Ann have a modest house: a large, rectangular, converted
storage building. The simplicity of it belies the fact that this is one of
the oldest family farms in America. Only upon closer inspection does
it become apparent that there is something unusual about this place.
Hanging on the wall is a framed certificate from New York State given to
the Esselstyn family in recognition of their family farm, a farm that has
now seen parts of five different centuries. Nearby an oar hangs on the
wall. It is the oar Ess used in 1955 as an oarsman at Yale, when Yale beat
Harvard by five seconds. Ess explains he has three other oars: two from
beating Harvard in other years, and one for winning the gold medal in
the Olympics with the Yale crew in 1956.
Downstairs, there is an exceptionally old photograph of Ess's great
great grandfather on the farm. Around the corner there's an impressive-
looking museum-style schematic of the Esselstyn family tree, and on
the other end of the hall, there's a large black and white picture of Ess's
father standing in front of a microphone, exchanging comments with
John F. Kennedy during a White House address. Despite its humble
appearance, it is very clear that this is a place with a distinguished his-
tory.
After touring the farm on a tractor, we sat down with Ess and asked
him about his past. After graduating from Yale, he was trained as a sur-
geon at the Cleveland Clinic and at St. George's Hospital in London.
He remembers fondly some of his most influential mentors: Dr. George
Crile, Jr., Dr. Turnbull and Dr. Brook. Dr. Crile, a giant at the Cleve-
land Clinic, eventually became Ess's father-in-law upon Ess's marriage
to Ann. Dr. Crile was a man of exceptional accomplishment, playing
a courageous, leading role in questioning the macabre surgery called
"radical mastectomy."l Dr. Turnbull and Dr. Brook were also renowned