Apples and other fruit trees have always played an important part in the history of our valley. Settlement of Gooney Manor began about 1770. Lord Fairfax would not sell his land, so early settlers leased 200 and 300 acre lots of “ungranted waste land,” built cabins with a stone or brick chimney, and planted 100 fruit trees as leases specified.
During the 2nd half of the 19th Century the surrounding hills were stripped of trees to meet the needs of the Tanneries but apples and peaches were still grown commercially to serve the needs of local distilleries where the fruit was transformed into Brandy. According to a history of Browntown written in 1929, “Sometime after 1872 Jacob Masemer built and operated for many years a distillery making pure apple brandy, also corn and rye whiskey.”
Also, during his period the tradition began of families making apple butter to enhance their diet during the winter months. Fresh apples could be stored in a cold house or sliced and dried. But apple butter, with its concentrated sugars, was a powerful way to extend shelf life before refrigeration. Each fall, families would assemble to make fun of the hard work of putting up. Apple butter making was (and still is today) a social event, but it was also productive.
In the early 20th century fruit production in the Shenandoah Valley grew considerably. In Warren County the tanneries closed and much of the farmland in South Warren was planted in apple orchards. At one time there were as many as 1,600 varieties of apples in southern and central Appalachia.
Apple varieties grown locally included Smokehouse, American Beauties, Wolf River, Grimes Golden, Banana, King David, Maiden’s Blush, Ralls Janet, Hawk, and York Imperial. One type of apple might grow well on one part of a property, and another would grow well on another, while your neighbors maybe grew different varieties entirely. Your family had your apple and you liked it better than someone else’s. Each of these varieties has a unique history and characteristics. For example, Wolf River apples grow up to 5 inches in diameter and can weigh over one pound each! The Ralls Janet is a great old U.S. apple that became known in the 1790s, growing on the farm of Caleb Ralls, a Virginian. One story says the apple was a seedling planted by Caleb and named for his wife, Janet.In the 1920s the editors of the Warren Sentinel regularly mentioned apples grown in the Gooney Valley that had been “sent to this office”.
Here are two descriptions from 1920 and 1922:
“Mrs. Arthur Warthen sent this office yesterday three beautiful apples which were grown on the Gene Updike farm near Browntown. They are known as American Beauties; are of rich dark color and are said to be of excellent quality. They weighed one pound each. The mountain sections of Warren County raise as fine apples as are to be found anywhere.”
“George W. Manuel, the mail carrier, on the Front Royal Browntown route, brought this office some extra fine samples of the old-time smooth Hawk apples which he raised on his farm near Browntown. They are of fine quality, both for eating and cooking, and he sold 30 bushels of them from two trees 15 years old. Sheriff Collins says the Hawk is a variety especially adapted to the Browntown-Bentonville-Limeton section and is very popular there.”
Up until the 1950s most of the apples produced in local commercial orchards were exported to Europe, with England being the most important destination. For example, in 1920 the Shenandoah Produce Co. of Front Royal shipped 50,000 barrels of apples for export, 90% of which were York Imperials. Most went to Liverpool and Glasgow. This trade declined in the 1950s after the United Kingdom introduced import tariffs.
So, what did happen to all of those orchards after the 1950s and how many of those old apple varieties are still being grown locally? Maybe that old apple tree in your backyard that you were going to tear out could be brought back to life to provide your family and neighbors with a delicious apple that beats anything you can buy in the supermarket!