Five years ago, ten-year-old Alex Jason traded a minibike and a snowblower for an iMac G5 that he could use to help him do his homework. Now fifteen, Jason has continued to nurture his collection of Apple hardware — and it’s grown into a bona fide Mac museum.
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The 1,000 square foot basement of Jason’s family home has been taken over by his Apple Orchard, which is made up of over 250 artifacts paid for by the teenager’s side job mowing lawns. The mass of hardware is documented on his blog, which is regularly updated with new additions.
There should be little doubt that Apple fans across the country would be eager to make a pilgrimage to view the collection. As well as consumer devices from throughout the company’s history, Jason has accumulated promotional materials, a vast selection of accessories, and even some highly sought-after prototypes.
The most remarkable piece in the collection is perhaps his Apple I computer — only 170 were sold, and of that number only around 60 are currently accounted for. The system is kept separately for the rest of the Orchard for safe-keeping, and has apparently only been seen by a very select group, according to a report from Cult of Mac.
Jason’s impressive collection wasn’t originally intended to become a museum exhibit; his first purchases were made simply so he could tinker with some old hardware, since there was no more work to be done on his G5. He bought up some older systems, opened them up, and started to come to grips with their inner workings.
Now, Alex and Bill Jason have plans for a building to house the collection, tentatively titled the Maine Technology Museum — and Bill has already quit his job to make it a reality. The museum will showcase the amazing collection that’s been amassed, as well as other exhibits pertaining to science and technology.
