Welcome to Apple Season at the Crossnore Heritage Orchard! However, we do not have a normal apple crop this year, a common problem across Avery County. So, it’s more important then ever to pick apples carefully this fall. You’ll find a page in our menu, titled “Apple Ripening Calendar”. See this page to determine which apple trees should have ripe apples during the week you are visiting. Picking unripe fruit only wastes your time, and hurts folks coming next week.
We currently have 28 apple varieties on 43 trees, most of which were common in Avery County. These historic apple varieties produce 40-100 bushels of apples annually. The apples are free for public collection, hands on education, and the celebration of apple history. These apple trees were planted in way to create a “Community Park” atmosphere. If you are visiting for the first time stick around, and learn more about these historic heirloom apple varieties, using your smart phone!
This new, self-guided educational experience is available to the general public 7 days a week, daylight to dark. This website is accessable on most digital devices. As you walk through the orchard, locate the trees by their number and read about each one as you visit the trees. These apple varieties are 100 to 350 years old. They were grown by our nation’s “Founding Fathers” and by many of our own grandfathers, over multiple generations.
Our plans this year has been two fold. One – to take care of our historic apple trees better than ever, with your help. Two – to invite teachers to bring their students for Field Trips this fall. Our website / smartphone based system brings you local and national apple history along with many watercolors of these historical apples. Crossnore Heritage Orchard staff look forward to hosting these Field Trip visits.
If you would like to help support this effort simply click on the “Donate Now” button on this website. This year the we received a “501 3c” designation and contracted with PayPal to help us! We are happy to give those of you who want to help us take care of your Orchard, the opportunity to make a tax-deductable donation.
In 2009 the Crossnore Communities for Children contacted the Avery County Cooperative Extension Center for help establishing a community orchard in the town of Crossnore. Planting historic heirloom apples was the mission. It has now become a living museum of the apple history of Avery County. It has also become a collection of some of America’s favorite heirloom apple varieties.
The Crossnore Communities for Children, the Avery County Extension Center, and Volunteers continue to cultivate and maintain this orchard. The Town of Crossnore is a big supporter of the Orchard. Click < Acknowledgements < to see all the folks who have made this Orchard possible.
Thanks for visiting this website. Please leave comments and any questions we can help you with. We welcome your thoughts to help us with this “work in progress”. Email us at Crossnoreheritageorchard@gmail.com or call 828-387-0174.
Thank You!
