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Apples

and

Rappahannock County

Once upon a time, Apples were a premier crop of Rappahannock County. Even before the creation of the county, apples were grown as a staple for families and as a cash crop.

Most of the apples produced in the county were grown on mountainous land. “The hillside land and drainage give them a distinctive flavor and makes them better for apple juice purposes. Rappahannock apples are good for cooking eating, juice, jelly, what not, and 'keep their shape,' according to an article in the Washington Post Rotogravure Section of November 1941.

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Once...a huge, vertically integrated industry

Apples provided many, many livelihoods for county residents.

As early as the 1860s, C. B. Wood was successfully producing a variety of apples.

Other growers were the Foster Brothers, Louis Moore, Williams

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Many different varieties were grown. Some of those with more interesting (or familiar) names are shown.

Bringing fruit trees into bearing requires heavy capital outlay. Orchards bear their big crops every other year and take 10-12 years to bear crop of importance. Profitable bearing age is about 30 years.

Insect and fungal infestations were costly requiring spraying sometimes multiple times during the season.

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Queen Victoria and The Pippin

The queen took a fancy to 'Albermarle Pippin's', a tart variety that grows well in the Piedmont.

As a result, for many years, Britain had no import tariff on American apples.

5Orchards

The orchards, such as this one, belonging to A.H. Buckner, provided the basic ingredient for this economy.

This orchard introduced the first Red Delicious variety here in 1911, when 130 trees, costing $0.13 apiece were planted.

The orchard was on 231 across from the Buckner house.

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In the Shadow of the Mountains

An orchard at Mt Vernon Farm in Sperryville

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Mount Vernon Farm

Turkey Mountain presents a fall backdrop for huge apple crates at Mount Vernon – the Miller farm in Sperryville

8Pickers

Harvesting the crop was (and is) labor intensive.Here Frank Settle is in action climbing the long ladder

with his canvas bag hung over his shoulder where he puts his load.

9Coopers

Barrels, Crates, and Baskets

Different types of containers were used at various stages of the harvesting, processing, and transport

In the late 1890s through the late 1930s, Rappahannock hadseveral coopers around the county.

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Barrels moving from cooper shops in Old Hollownear present day US 211.

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Waggoners

Tom Harrell made his rounds delivering empty barrels and picking up full ones in the 1920s.

12No Bruising Please

Some pre-grading of the fruit depends on the pickers – here apples are being cushioned by hand to minimize bruising

On the right is Tom Lee, father of current (2011) orchardist Bryant Lee

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These Old Hollow harvesters had just finished picking the 1918 apple crop in Hugh Miller's orchard.

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How 'bout them apples!

Louis Moore is using a front end loader to place bins of apples on the truck. Each bin holds 22 bushels of fruit. This late 1960s crop was a banner year.

On the right are bins at Mt. Vernon

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In good years, mighty yields

These containers at Mount Vernon were manufactured in a Richmond factory owned by the Miller family

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Under Temporary Cover

Apples under a roof a Mt Vernon Farm in Sperryville

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Cold Storage Facilities

A view of the apple processing complex that now includes Copper Fox and River District.

Buildings in center were juice plant

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Mill

Packing House Cold Storage

'Copper Fox' ComplexWhen apples were 'king'

Rappahannock Co-operative Fruit Growers built the packing house around 1936

In 1939 the Rappahnnock Co-operative Cold Storage was organized and built this building for cold storage.

The Blue Ridge Fruit Growers Co-operative was organized in 1941 and constructed the building in the middle of this complex in front of the remains of the old mill. They produced an excellent apple juice sold under the name of Skyline Drive and Red Creek brands.

19Processing the 'raw' product

Theses crates of freshly picked apples are placed on the conveyor belt taking them to the cleaner and grader.

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On to the 'assembly' line

Lots of apples – and sophisticated machinery to handle them – washing, sorting and boxing.

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Keep those boxes ready

22Only the 'best' remain intact

It's off to juice or apple sauce, etc for the culls

23Pack 'em up – move 'em out

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Railroad

'Raw' and processed apples went to Front Royal for rail transport elsewhere. Other growers sent their crops to Culpeper and Kendall in Page Co for rail transport.

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Many different processingfacilities once existed

Flint Hill – Wood Brothers Packing House and Foster Brothers Packing House.

Washington – Packing Shed Gallery across from Washington Baptist Church

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Dried Apples once produced here

On this site, now home of the Sperryville Rescue Squad, the Rappahannock Evaporator Company, a dried apple facility, operated from about 1917-1937.

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Before the Farmer's Co-op, a cold storage facility at Flatwoods

The Washington Co-operative Fruit Growers organized in 1945 and erected the building now known as the Rappahannock Co-op (Farm and Family).

It was a packing house and cold storage facility.The company had a contract with National Fruit for

several years. By 1977, demand for local apples diminished and the facility was sold and converted to its present use.

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Locust Pin Factory & Vaporator Site

Water Street, Sperryville

The short-lived Locust Pin Factory and vaporator once occupied this site on Water Street in Sperryville.

This area had once been the site of a tannery.

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Evaporator

Location of this facility is not known

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Cold Storage LockerHidden by antiques

Rented to individuals for cold storage before freezers were popular.

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A 'Low-Tech' (but effective) Method

That's not thatch, but apples up there

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The side businesses

Orchard ToursApple ButterFruit StandsStills

Other activities prospered in the shadow of the great apple industry

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Both manual...

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…and automated peeling was used to prepare the apples for special processing.

35Apple Butter

Nothing like the old fashioned method – working all day over an open kettle

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Fall Farm Tours are nothing new

Harvest tours have been going on here for a long long time

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RoadsideFruit

Stands

Once a very common sight, a few remain to carry on this long tradition

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Tastes good, no matter how you spell it.

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Even some 'side' benefits“Rappahannock is overcrowded with apples and all the stills in the county are running night and

day. Brandy will be considerably cheaper there this season which will attract a good many

thirsty souls from neighboring counties”

Culpeper Observer, Oct. 6, 1876

Not 'mountain dew' but apparently pretty tasty nonetheless

Apples must have plentiful, in a relative sense,In the 1870s.

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Doughboys ate Rappahannock Apples

Charley Atkinsfrom Rappahannock Co. was a doughboy in WW I France.

He told of carrying barrels to the kitchen area that were stamped C.H. Bowen, Sperryville, VA

It was common knowledge that many of the apples shipped to France were from the Bowen orchard

41The Park, Apples and People

The Blue Ridge was the site of many orchards

Here Lawrence 'Billy' Johnson works on one of the mountain farms

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Packing

Operations went on in the mountain orchards

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Grading Apples in Field

Note the many trees in this aerial photo

45From 100s of small tractsone park

Shenandoah National Park was 'assembled' from many small tracts of land as these maps indicate.

Larger map shows portion of Rappahannock Co. in the park, with various individual parcels.

Colored map shows one of these parcels for whichWe have detailed info

Many of the mountain tracts included orchards

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Aerial photo of a portion of the tract shown on the previous map

47The torch still burns

The torch still burns in the orchards of today.Alther, Jenkins, Lee, Moore, Williams, and others

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Familiar Faces

Cliff Miller with (son?? grandson??)

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A Proud Heritage

Sperryville was known as “The Lilltle Apple” until not too long ago.