“This is not a normal orchard — it’s more like a living history museum.”
Mills is a font of apple history — as is his orchard, which might contain more varieties of apple trees than any other in the country.“I say it’s a passion — my wife says it’s insanity.”Would you like to taste a variety favored by Benjamin Franklin?How about a variety munched on by Louis XIV, or one that may have inspired Isaac Newton to formulate his theory of gravity?“If you want to eat the same apple as Charlemagne, you can do it here,” Mills said.
About 95% of all apples sold today come from just 12 cultivars, Mills said. But more than 7,500 varieties of apples are known. Hocking Hills Orchard grows about 1,600 of them. And Mills knows a thing or two, or three, about most of those varieties. He tries to share stories with each customer who visits during U-pick season, which runs into October, he said.Even if a certain variety is not the tastiest or most beautiful, “The story is what makes it so cool,” he said.
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