There are stories of Johnny Appleseed practicing his nurseryman craft in the Wilkes-Barre area and of picking seeds from the pomace at Potomac cider mills in the late 1790s .
There are some early accounts of John speaking of his own activities as `` a Bible missionary '' on the Potomac when he was a young man , and Johnny was seen for two or three consecutive years along the banks of the Potomac in eastern Virginia , picking the seeds from the pomace of the cider mills in the late 1790s .