Long before supermarkets and commercial orchards, nearly every community in northern Vermont had apple trees. Families relied on them for fresh fruit, cider, vinegar, livestock feed, and winter storage. As farms disappeared and forests reclaimed the land, many of those trees survived.
Today, those trees still grow quietly along old roads, stone walls, hedgerows, abandoned farmsteads, and woodland edges. They are living reminders of the people who planted them and the communities they once supported.
Many of these trees continue to produce exceptional fruit. Some possess remarkable qualities—cold hardiness, disease resistance, or unique flavors—that have never been documented. Others may represent local apple varieties that have quietly survived for generations.
Recent research by the USDA Forest Service found that “hundreds of millions of apple trees currently exist in the forests of the northern U.S.” The same research concludes that these trees “may serve as an in-situ gene bank representing hundreds, if not thousands, of apple cultivars forgotten long ago but adapted to local conditions.”
We’re not just making cider. We’re working to preserve the apples, the stories, the traditions, and the remarkable landscapes that have shaped this region for generations.
