On our drive home from the horse show I pulled in to this beautiful old homestead… it was apparent no one was living there by the condition of the house, however the apple orchards out back looked well maintained. There was a sign out front that heralded a weekly farmers market with the sign “Halls Homestead”….I found the following through a google search that brought me to a Foody blog post about Apples.
“This beautiful antique orchard is owned and cultivated by Paul and JoAnn Desrochers. – 18th Century Purity Farm At The Hall Homestead. The farm has been in JoAnn’s family since 1830 when her great great great grandfather came to Connecticut from Rhode Island and planted the majority of the apple varieties that persist even today. Paul and JoAnn cultivate 88 varieties of apples at three different properties in the area- most of these varieties grow at Hall Homestead. There is a wild and timeless feeling to the fields and trees that spread across the hill beyond their farmhouse and barn.
These apple trees have flourished in JoAnn’s family for generations, even surviving the devastating effects of the hurricane of 1938 in which dozens of trees were decimated. Her grandfather painstakingly reestablished the trees that still produce today.
JoAnn and Paul took took over the Hall Homestead in 2008; it had declined during the preceding years was completely abandoned when JoAnn’s mother died in 2007. They have nurtured the trees back to health over the past three years, working from dawn until dusk.”
To read more about this extraordinary couple and their apple orchards and varieties… see link below..
http://foodiefatale.com/?p=4315
The house and the outbuildings are rotting away, and they left the porch light on … with a new-fangled lightbulb? What a paradox.
You KNOW that the Hidden Rose Apple piqued my interest. Now I'm going to have to look that one up.
What a neat place! I don't think I've ever seen apples that are pink inside like that.
It's funny…the same thing struck me as struck Connie. I thought the house was abandoned until I saw the light on. What a great old place, though. I would love to rehab it and restore it to its former glory.
I have never seen apples quite like that although there were some small ones that grew in PA that had a pinkish interior. They were "soft" to the bite. My Aunt always called them Snow Rose apples. xo Diana
Oh, someone needs to bring life back to that home. You can tell it was gorgeous at one time. Strange that the light is on.
love the house, the barns, the fields…….what an incredible old place. It's crying out for HELP.
I had a Fameuse apple tree once, and the apples were so unique.
What a lovely homestead! I wish someone had the means to renovate all.
The Emerson quote has been on my laundry room wall for 17 years and I've carried it around for years prior. Words to live by!
What a cool place! Take me with you, I'd love to try that apple too, never saw one like it!!! How unique!
Please send the husband back with tools in hand and let him beg to freshen that place up!!!
It have beautiful bones.
Thanks for the information, Karen. I planted a few heirloom apple trees two years ago. The Esopous Spitzenberg is DEFINITELY the favorite of the deer! I guess I'll be buying our apples at the Hall Homestead this fall!
What a grand old farm, it must have been breathtaking in its day. I hope someone finds the means to restore it to its former glory.
First of all – the flesh of those apples! It looks absolutely delectable. Are they sweet?
That house breaks my heart. Your area is really full of the greatest old homes. I want to read a book on that old attached porch on that house.
Lovely.
What a glorious house and barn! I do hope it can be restored although I am certain it could not be done on a farmers wages:( Thank goodness they are preserving the apples! I see that I live close enough to those farmers markets to try to find some of those Hidden Rose apples this year! Now I only have to remember…remind me please?!
Oh the potential that place has ! Love the house and barn!
this house is just begging for your care!!!
What a beautiful old homestead. I always feel good about getting lots of photos of a place like this…it can't last forever. I love the pretty apple…looks pretty inside and out!
I've never seen an apple like that!
Karen, that house is begging for Mike's attention, much like This Old House did. Wow!
So many have already said what I was thinking (about you and Mike). 🙂
88 different kinds of apples? Who knew? Not me!
Now, I want an apple pie. Britt and the girls spent the night last night, and you know what she wanted, right? Peach cobbler. 🙂
What a neat old place. I can just imagine what it looked like when it was thriving!
XO,
Jane
I could give a couple years of my life bringing that place back to former glory…We have spent the past six weeks back here in Virginia..I like it back here…just saying!xo
What a gorgeous house–and that barn!!! I'm sure it would take a fortune to restore that farm, but what an amazing place it would be!
Beautiful apples too!
That home is absolutely beautiful! I wonder what she looks like inside? Can you only imagine her years ago in her glory? That apple is so neat! How did it taste?
I would love to get my hands on that house and I bet you would too Karen. I'm imaging beautiful, but simple Colonial fireplace mantels, wide board floors, and wavy glass in the pretty windows. A real charmer. I hope someone does something with it before it falls down.
Just think, when you finished remodeling it, you could finally relax and make an apple pie.
Sam
I'm back because I just remembered there is an old farmhouse near us (not nearly as lovely though), but the porch light is always on there too. I'm thinking that the light on the porch is the house's way of saying to intruders, "someone loves me so much they've left the light and they'll be back soon, so don't mess with me."
Sam
OMG, can you imagine bringing back the charm of this old place. You would have a ball. You could go to that wonderful salvage place you visited last year.
Oh, my word. and that apple – wow!