Apple picking has become one of those fall activities that every lifestyle blog covers exhaustively—and the orchards that get all the press tend to be packed on October weekends with more hay rides than actual apple trees. The Northeast, though, is full of smaller operations that grow genuinely interesting varieties, maintain historic orchards, and offer a more hands-on experience.
These places are doing something more than seasonal agritourism: they’re preserving agricultural heritage that goes back to the 18th century. Here is a list of 15 hidden gem apple orchards in the Northeast worth seeking out.
Indian Ladder Farms, Altamont, New York
Indian Ladder Farms sits at the base of the Helderberg Escarpment in Albany County, a dramatic limestone ridge that makes for a striking backdrop to the picking fields below. The orchard grows over 50 apple varieties, including several heirloom cultivars that you won’t find in any supermarket, and the cidery on site has expanded significantly in recent years.
The farm has been operating since 1916 and remains family-owned, which shows in the level of care taken with the older sections of the orchard where trees have been producing for decades.
Scott Farm Orchard, Dummerston, Vermont
Scott Farm is owned by The Landmark Trust USA and sits on land that was farmed by Rudyard Kipling when he lived in Vermont in the 1890s—he built his house, Naulakha, there and wrote ‘The Jungle Book’ in it. The orchard grows over 120 varieties of heirloom apples, which is an extraordinary collection, and the farm sells directly at its farm stand and through its CSA…