The history of the big apple
No, not that big apple—this one:
The above picture is of the sign in front of The Market at Styer’s Orchard, one of the oldest continuously operated farmer’s markets in this area. (It also happens to be the subject of many Google searches that end up at this blog, so maybe this entry will provide a wee bit more info.)
Founded in 1910, Styer’s was run as a family business and surrounded by vast stretches of farmland and apple orchards, up until the late 1990’s. That’s when it was sold to the township (Middeltown), in a purchase funded by the local open space initiative. The store is now run as a more-or-less public interest, with items from other area farms, not the least of which is my favorite ice cream in the world, which happens to come from Goodnoe’s Dairy (I’ll plug that some more in another post).
And thank God for the open space plan, because otherwise the whole spread would have become just another 900 luxury homes on half acre lots. But enough about that, for a little bit anyway.
In addition to noting the fine local business signified by the above-pictured sign, you may also notice a large apple below the sign—to be more specific, a large concrete apple. The apple is in its 50’s now, a fact I only know because it used to sit in front of another apple growing farm, and that’s the one on which my father grew up.
The family farm my father grew up on has long since been turned into a suburban sub-division, but it is a small source of comfort that we can still visit the apple that used to symbolize the farm and roadside fruit stand our family once owned. I suppose it’s a little bittersweet that tax-funded open space plans, like the one that prevented Styer’s Orchard from becoming an cluster of overpriced homes, would have been unthinkable 40 years ago.
Bittersweet sentiments aside, I’m glad they kept the parasitic developers from ruining the natural beauty of the land that still lays, undisturbed, surrounding Styer’s market. Also of interest to some folks, aside from the farm-produced items available every day at Styer’s, is the Saturday flea markets they’re having for the next several weeks. If you’ve never been and you live in the area, you might want to pay a visit.
(For more background on Styer’s Orchard itself, as well as the arrangement in place to manage it for the township, Philly Burbs had a pretty informative update a couple months ago.)
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