Looking for somewhere interesting to go that is Very Fallish?
Check out Hopewell Furnace National History Site! http://www.nps.gov/hofu/planyourvisit/hours.htm
We have been fortunate to visit the site for many years, taking our children along to pick more types of apples than you see just about anywhere else. We're used to seeing Red and Yellow Delicious, and Hopewell Furnace does have those. But they also have Macintosh and Winesap as well as a wide variety of apples that used to be popular in the old times, and that you don't see as much elsewhere nowadays.
Smokehouse apples are good for pies, and have a deep smoky afterflavor when you bite into them. Cortland apples are the size of two of your fists put together and are also for making pies with - not too sweet, and they hold their shape when you cook them. Northern Spy and Pippin (George Washington's favorite apple) are there as well.
Because it's a National History Site, the apples are not perfect like the ones you'd see in the supermarket. They receive a limited amount of spraying for bugs, and sometimes come out a little lopsided. The main office hands out the long picking poles, and you and your family can follow the map and try out the different types to see what you would like best. Not all apples taste alike!
Two things to keep in mind... there will be yellow jackets. They like the apples too, but you can avoid them. They'll let you alone if you don't poke at them. And there are white tail deer that come for the falls (fallen apples) long about dark. So you do need to watch your step.
Apples that you pick are weighed at the office, and you pay for them per pound. It's a lot less than you would pay at the grocery store, and you have the joy having picked them yourself! Take a trip down, and enjoy the Fall!
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