Harvest Time in Apple Country
Apple harvest is underway all across Apple Valley. The first two weeks of September are the best. Make sure you visit Grandad’s.
North Carolina is the fourth largest apple growing state, and the vast majority of that fruit comes from the valley just east of Hendersonville in a micro climate district known as the Isothermal Belt, because warmer days add weeks to the growing season. From the end of August to the end of September, growers feverishly gather sixteen different varieties of the nutritious fruit.
A trip from my house to Apple Valley, as it’s called, takes less than hour, and I had to go around 4,300 foot Little Pisgah Mountain, the tallest peak between the Piedmont and Asheville, south of Interstate 40.
After Little Pisgah, I drove over Bearwallow Mountain, the second tallest peak, emerging at Grand Highlands, an upscale development that overlooks Apple Valley, 2,000 feet below.
Driving down narrow roads into the valley, suddenly the world changes, revealing an idyllic setting more like Europe than the Southern Appalachians.
Ancient…
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Living in The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina- A Blog 