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Don't miss the Apple Festival! NC APPLE FESTIVAL Labor Day Weekend Friday Aug. 31 - Saturday Sept. 1 Click here to get the North Carolina Apple Education Kit: 
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© 1999-2003, Blue Ridge Direct Market Association. All information on this web site is copyrighted material of Blue Ridge Direct Market Association. Website design and hosting by CyTech Computers & Internet Solutions, Inc. |
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The
apple has been called the loveliest of all fruits. It is also
one of the most important agricultural crops grown in Henderson
County. During a normal year it brings in an average income of
$22 million dollars or more. 
He
set fruit trees, (including apple), near his home in Fruitland.
He was also the first white settler in Henderson County. Mr. Mills
was a loyalist, a major in the British Army, and first came to
the area after escaping from capture by the Revolutionary Army
at the Battle of Kings Mountain. In 1782 Asa and Samuel Edney
married daughters of William Mills. They were among some of the
first settlers in the Edneyville Community of Henderson County
- where apple production first started in a big way.
The
Development of the apple industry was very slow for the first
150 years due to poor means of transportation. During the 1890's
and early 1900's farmers began hauling apples and other produce
to Greenville, Spartanburg, and other South Carolina Counties.
After the first railway was built into Henderson County in the
early part of the twentieth century, people began to ship apples
and vegetables out of the county.
In 1936, the sale of apples amounted to approximately two hundred
thousand dollars per year. Since the mid-1930's apple production
in Henderson County has rapidly expanded. The varieties that began
to expand at that time were Regular Red Delicious, Stayman, and
the Regular Rome Beauty, with some Golden Delicious coming in
later. Black Ben was also very popular at that time along with
Banana Rose, Hoover, Wolf River, and Early June. Growers started
planting Starking in the Hendersonville Area about 1945. Double
Red Rome and Double Red Delicious were started about the same
time. The acreage of Golden Delicious was also greatly expanded.
These were the main varieties until about 1959 or 1960 when some
of the later sports varieties such a Starkcrimson, Red King, Topred,
Vance Red Sport and others were planted in the county. In 1952
there were about 180,000 bearing apple trees in the county.
Modern
equipment such as speed sprayers and automatic power pruners were
first introduced in Henderson County in the 1950's. Andy Lyda
of the Edneyville Community was the first grower to purchase a
large speed sprayer. Mr. Lyda was well known for his operation
of the Bee Hive Inn on St. Paul Road in the Edneyville Community.
His inn was a favorite of many tourists that came in from Florida,
Georgia, South Carolina and other states. His apple orchard surrounded
his inn. The visitors could go and eat apples at their convenience.