There is so much fun history to uncover when you purchase an 1880 homestead!
One part of the rich history of our land, centers around the historic apple orchards.
The home was built by Charles & Ann Elizabeth Churchill. The Churchill's sold 25 acres of their land to an A.D. Barnes, otherwise known as (Appletree Barnes). He started the orchards and as the story goes, gifted the Churchill family with a Wolf River Apple Tree.
The tree still stands on our property and is over 125 years old. It is a magnificent tree and is photographed often by our guests here at the Apple Tree Lane Bed & Breakfast, http://www.appletreelanebb.com/.
It is all hollowed out by wind, rain, and storms, with a heavy limb being propped up by a wooded ladder. Remarkably, it is still producing foliage AND apples today! We don't know how long the patriarch of the orchard will grace us with her presence, but we hope for a long time to come.
Not just wonderful to admire and photograph, but this Wolf River tree's apples are still picked and used in making homemade autumn treats.
The Wolf River is a well know cooking apple, notable for its large size. The red blushed fruit with patches of yellow, can weigh up to a pound or more. They are a bit dry, but fairly sweet, and are used mainly for cooking. They are a hardy apple and quite disease resistant. Thank goodness for us! As you can see from this picture, the deer like them too.
When the Pennebecker family purchased the homestead from the Churchill's in the 1920's and the orchards from A.D. Barnes, they operated one of the largest apple orchards in the region.
We have had the wonderful blessing of having many of the Pennebecker family stay with us and provide us stories, 
history, pictures, and memorabilia. It was fun to have several of them come during apple picking time.
history, pictures, and memorabilia. It was fun to have several of them come during apple picking time. They took some Wolf River's and Macintosh's, and then provided us with some apple inspired family recipes.
These guests, enjoyed apple picking and eating time too!
With our early spring this year, the buds are on the tree. Now, we will hold our breath and see if the blossoms come again this year, followed by a bountiful harvest of beautiful, big and very mature apples! Come visit and enjoy!
