Applecrest Farm Orchards
It is proposed that this article be deleted because of the following concern:
If you can address this concern by improving, copyediting, sourcing, renaming, or merging the page, please edit this page and do so. You may remove this message if you improve the article or otherwise object to deletion for any reason. Although not required, you are encouraged to explain why you object to the deletion, either in your edit summary or on the talk page. If this template is removed, do not replace it. This message has remained in place for seven days, so the article may be deleted without further notice. Find sources: "Applecrest Farm Orchards" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR Nominator: Please consider notifying the author/project: {{subst:proposed deletion notify|Applecrest Farm Orchards|concern=Non-notable, unencyclopedic tone}} ~~~~Timestamp: 20060806164438 16:44, 6 August 2006 (UTC) Administrators: delete |
Applecrest Farm Orchards is a year-round orchard in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire.
History
The property Applecrest Orchards currently stands on was settled in 1665 by James Prescott, an Englishman that had arrived in North America the same year. He married the daughter of Nathaniel Boulter of the neighboring town, Hampton. For thirty years, he dwelled in the garrison house now know as Prescott's Fort. But in 1724, he moved to Kingston, New Hampshire, until his death, four years later. His grandson, Ebenezer Prescott inherited the large parcel of land.[1]
Aaron Wells of Ipswich, Massachusetts, purchased the land from Ebenezer's descendents in 1774. His sole child, Eunice, married Newell Healey of the neighboring town, Kensington. Their son, Wells, inherited the farm after his maternal grandfather's death in 1819.[1]
Wells maried Elizabeth Pickering of nearby town, North Hampton. Wells died in 1857, and one of his sons, Newell H., became the owner of the large farm.[1]
In 1913, Walter Baldwin Farmer with his wife, Gertrude (neé Jones), and their two daughters, came from Brookline, Massachusetts, and bought the farm. He set his mind on making the farm into a prosperous business. He purchased more land in surrounding areas, dredged brooks, dynamited boulders, set out thousands of apple tress, and studied the latest methods on tree maintnence. It was then, when the first apple tree was planted, that Applecrest Farm Orchards was established. Farmer spent the first ten years of his ownsership of the orchard waiting for the apple trees he planted to fully mature. While waiting, he paid his bills by raising chickens. Nearly 200 hundrend chicken houses dotted the hilly landscape.[1] A small amount of those chicken coops still stand, but are no longer in use.[citation needed]
Applecrest Orchards is considered the oldest and largest apple orchard in the whole state of New Hampshire[2] and the oldest continuously operation apple orchard in the United States.[3] But many of the buildings on the grounds were built before the establishment of the business, including the Farm Market, built in 1812[4], and the home of the Wagners, built in 1815 by Wells Healey.[1]
After Farmers's death, the lot was sold to Major Platts.[1] But shortly after in 1954, the orchard was bought by[5] William L. and Jean Wagner of New York. Although they knew next to nothing about apple tree maintnence, they decided to continue the business.[1] It has been operated by the Wagner family ever since. When Bill died in 1984, the farm was ran by Jean, the new president of the business.[5] In 1985, 500 acres of land was owned by Applecrest, but 44 acres of that land was sold that year and divided into 18 house lots. In the late 1980s, another 33 acre parcel off Sanborn Road was subdivided and 12 lots were created. Additional sections of land, mostly along the main roads in Hampton Falls, have been sold off as well. Ten acres became four house lots in the early 1990s, a 12 lot subdivision called Coburn Woods was developed, and in around 2000, six acres off of Route 88 (Exeter Road) became a three lot subdivision, conforming in every instance to the town's two-acre per house zoning ordinance.[5]
As of 2006, the owners of the farm are Ben and Peter Wagner,[6] the sons of Jean and Bill.[5] In addition to the orchard, two markets were run by the Wagners on U.S. Route 1, Hampton Falls and Junction 110 and Junction 150 in Amesbury, Massachusetts.[6] The former market was known as the Applemart.[7] In 2004, both of the markets were shut down.[citation needed]
Produce
Currently, the orchard grows approximately 40,000 bushels of more than 40 different variety of apples, including McIntosh, Cortland, Macoun, Ida Red, and Red Delicious. Other available foods include various vegetables, corn, and peaches.[4]
External links
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Winn, Elaine B. (1997). Historic Homes of Hampton Falls. Hampton Falls, New Hampshire: Hampton Falls Historical Society.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|year=(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ http://www.visitingnewengland.com/apples.html
- ^ http://www.hamptonfalls.org
- ^ a b http://www.applecrest.com
- ^ a b c d http://www.seacoastonline.com/2000news/2_13a.htm
- ^ a b http://www.applejournal.com/nh01.htm
- ^ http://www.seacoastonline.com/2003news/hampton/06082003/news/33063.htm