It may seem difficult to believe today, but there was a time when Sullivan County apple producers shipped apples to every state in the country except for Washington and Oregon. Local apple orchards were once that productive.

Perhaps the largest apple producer in Sullivan County at the height of the industry here was Martin A. Smith of Fremont Center.

Smith, best known to some as the man who introduced the Holstein cow to the county in the middle of the 19th century, served in the NYS Assembly from 1887 to 1889, and was a serial entrepreneur. In addition to his dairy herd and cultivating the largest apple orchard in the region, he also grew sugar beets for a time, shipping them to Binghamton on the Erie Railroad in an unsuccessful commercial venture to refine sugar there.

Smith’s apple orchard was so successful that it almost singlehandedly spawned a number of spin-off industries in the county.

In those days, shipping apples on the railroad required that they be packed in barrels, so as more apples were produced here, and more were shipped out, more barrels were required. Soon, barrel manufacturers were as numerous in the county – and as successful –  as the apple producers.

Writing in 1951, Charles S. Hick, who just a few years later would become Sullivan County’s third official County Historian, noted that “J.M. Schmidt & Sons at North Branch were the big packers.”

“So immense were the crops of apples produced in Sullivan County that Schmidt alone shipped 1700 carloads of barreled apples out of the county,” Hick wrote. “J.M. Schmidt & Sons had on file letters from dealers they supplied stating that the flavor of Sullivan County apples could not be matched by any other section.”

Hick recalled watching as thousands of apples were picked by orchard owners and dumped on the ground in separate piles according to variety. Then packers, in the employ of the buyers, would sort through the piles and pack the selected apples in barrels that had been delivered to the orchard in great quantity.

“The cull apples were then used for cider or went into making dried apples (apfel-chnitz) produced in the home and article of barter at the village store. Schmidt at North Branch had a commercial dried apple factory that used as many as 70,000 bushels of apples a season.”

Even in 1951, the apple growing industry in Sullivan County had long been defunct. Although he does not cite a cause for the demise, Hick wrote that “all that is left of this great industry of apple growing of this section are the old apple trees neglected over these many years or nearly dead if not already dead.”

The collapse of commercial apple growing in the county soon led to the end of the barrel making industry, and that severely curtailed the demand for locally produced elm, which had been grown largely to supply the cooperages. Before long, once thriving manufacturing centers in western Sullivan County, such as Mileses and North Branch were nearly unrecognizable.

It is a well-known fact that as industries – timber, tanning, bluestone, apple growing – declined in the region, tourism rose up to take their place as the principle economic engine. And many of the resources that had once been utilized for industrial purposes – the Delaware River that had been used to transport timber, streams that had powered saw and grist mills, and ponds that had supplied water for the tanning industry or the canal – were quickly repurposed for roles as recreational venues in the new resort industry.

Now, the commercial apple growing business in Sullivan County is back, to some extent, at least, and ventures such as Seminary Hill Orchard & Cidery in Callicoon, and Majestic Farms in Mountaindale, are growing apples in great numbers, with thousands of trees between them. These ventures have the added appeal of being attractive to tourists, as well, and at Seminary Hill, for example, tours of the innovative building and fermenting facility, as well as the orchards, are a popular attraction.

The Seminary Hill venue – located at 43 Wagner Lane, and featuring an incredible panoramic view –  will be hosting the first ever Catskills Cider Festival on Saturday, May 10 beginning at 2pm. The festivities will provide participants an opportunity to sample ciders from numerous orchards and will also include a tour of the Seminary Hill facility, the world’s first Passive House-certified cidery, as well as live music and a bonfire. As part of the event, this columnist, your Sullivan County Historian, will present a program on the local history of apples and apple cider beginning at 2:30pm.  Contact Seminary Hill for ticket information.

John Conway is the Sullivan County Historian and a founder and president of The Delaware Company. Email him at jconway52@hotmail.com.