Road-trippers looking to visit the ‘best apple orchard in America’ can stop by Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards in LaFayette.
Experts and USA Today readers placed Beak and Skiff at the top of USA Today’s annual list of Best Apple Orchards.
The upstate New York apple orchard is a family-owned business located on a hillside along Route 20.
The LaFayette apple orchard offers 20 varieties of apple trees, and as of spring 2019, it has 300,000 apple trees in the ground, according to Beak and Skiff’s website.
Open seven days a week from late August through late October, Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards has now been number one on the Best Apple Orchards list five times in nine years.
Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards in LaFayette, New York, was named the ‘best apple orchard in America’ by USA Today this month
Syracuse onion farmer George Skiff and dairy farmer Andrew Beak founded Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards in 1911 after deciding to enter the apple farming business.
By the 1920s, the orchard’s business was booming, and it began selling apples to various grocery stores.
Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards was one of the places heavily affected by a drought in the 1930s, and by 1937, all its trees lost their leaves.
The orchard continued to struggle in the 1940s, losing an entire crop of apples in 1945.
The top-ranked location persevered, and after implementing new methods to keep crops safe and trees watered, its founders managed to save thousands of apples from destruction.
Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards continued to grow, and more than 60 years after it was founded, the business opened to the public in 1975.
Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards offers 20 varieties of apple trees, and more than 15 different types of fresh apples
The orchard went on to open the Apple Hill Country Store and bake shop, and by 1979, the business began making apple cider.
‘As it gained in popularity and demand from our wholesale accounts increased we found the need to develop a pasteurization process that extends the shelf life but did not alter the delicious flavor,’ the orchard wrote on its website.
‘Our cider mill was the first to “flash pasteurize” fresh cider and distribute it through the wholesale channel.’
The cider’s popularity eventually led to the 2001 creation of 1911 hard ciders, which helped the orchard launch its own vodka and gin lines in 2010.
Years after the orchard’s successful opening, Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards has six attractions: 1911 Tasting Room and Tavern, Apple Hill General Store, Apple Barn, Beak & Skiff Bakery, Kids Treehouse, and 1911 Distillery.
Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards’ visitors must travel by wagon to enter the farm. It’s open seven days a week from late August through late October
What used to be an orchard where visitors must travel by wagon to access the farm is now a massive tourist attraction with adult and family-friendly activities.
The 1911 Tasting Room and Tavern offers dining guests a selection of hard ciders, spirits, and wines.
Guests who wish to see how those beverages get made can pop on by the 1911 Distillery, where its equipment prepares beverages like vodka and bourbon whiskey.
Food options can be found at Apple Hill General Store and Beak and Skiff Bakery.
The orchard’s bakery is full of goodies like donuts, pies, and cookies, and its website noted that apple bread is the business ‘fave.’
Foodies can also stop by and pick up homemade fudge from the orchard’s general store, along with other fun gifts and cold brew coffee.
Children can enjoy the Kids Treehouse, which features activities for children as young as two.
Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards seemingly has everything, from award-winning alcoholic drinks, to live music and a summer concert series.
However, it’s not the only apple orchard in the US that can put a smile on a traveler’s face.
Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards has six attractions: 1911 Tasting Room and Tavern, Apple Hill General Store, Apple Barn, Beak & Skiff Bakery, Kids Treehouse, and 1911 Distillery
Two other places featured on USA Today’s list of best US apple orchards are the Libby & Son U-Picks in Limerick, Maine, and the Mercier Orchards in Blue Ridge, Georgia.
Apple orchard visitors in Maine can stop by Libby & Son U-Picks anytime between mid-August through the end of October and enjoy live music after picking fresh apples.
Travelers look for a destination in Georgia can head over to the Mercier Orchards sometime from August to November to pick apples, visit a winery, or purchase products at a farmer’s market.
Other states that are home to some of America’s best apple orchards include North Carolina, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee.
