The visitor to Beauneville may already be aware of the pervasive role of malus domestica in town life. There are clues: the "Welcome to Beauneville" sign in the form of an apple; oceans of apple trees stretching across the rolling hills of Washington County; apple-packing houses, active and defunct, on either side of the Cidertown Road; piles of apples on display in front of Ackerman's Market, as well as the smell of applesauce from the adjacent plant; the old cider mill; and so forth. The next exhibit shows pictures of old apple packing houses, the cider mill, and pictures from the 1950s showing children holding the largest apples ever grown. There are also pictures of the Apple Blossom Parade through the years, and the Apple Harvest Festival.
People in Washington County like to say that in Washington County we grow apples, and in other parts of the world they grow red-skinned pulpy things with no flavor. That may reflect some local pride, but denizens of the county certainly do know their apples. And well they should. Because in Washington County, they grow every kind of apple known to the world.
The Washington County orchardists grow the Adams Pearlman, the Akane, the Ambrosia, the Anna, the Annurca, the Antonovka, the Arkansas Black, the Ashmead's Kernel, the Aurora Golden Gala, the Bailey, the Baldwin, the Beacon, the Beauty of Bath, the Belle de Boskoop, the Ben Davis, the Beverly Hills, the Blenheim Orange, the Bottle Greening, the Braeburn, the Bramley, the Breedon Pippin and the Brina. They also grow ample quantities of Calville Blanc d'Hiver, Cameo, Carolina Red June, Carroll, Catshead, Charles Ross, Cornish Gilliflower, Cortland, Court Pendu Plat, Cox's Orange Pippin, Cripp's Pink, Crispin and Criterion apples.
And those are only the As, Bs and Cs.
They grow apples for eating, for cooking, for baking, for sauce and for cider. Red apples, yellow apples, reddish-yellow apples, orange apples, and green apples; sweet apples and tart apples; crisp apples and mealy apples; russeted apples, russet-free apples and apples with a little bit of russet; oddly-shaped and perfectly shaped apples.
They grow Ginger Golds, Golden Delicious, Golden Noble, Golden Russet, Golden Spire and two kinds of Georges, Crave and Neal; Gravenstein, Greensleeves and Grenadier; Kidd's Orange Red, Lane's Prince Albert, Karmijn de Sonnaville, Muscadet de Dieppe and two Lords, Derby and Lambourne; Mollie's Delicious, Pam's Delight, Peasgood's Nonesuch, Warner's King, Tremlitt's Bitter, Miller's Seedling and two of Tydeman's best, the Early Worcester and the Late Orange; the Brownsnout, Foxwhelp, Hagloe Crab, Vista Bella, Winesap and Yeovil Sour (an apple best suited for throwing).
But of all the apples grown in Washington County, the greatest apple of all is the Beauneville Beauty.
The Beauneville Beauty is a remarkable apple. Excellent for eating, delicious in sauce, wonderful in pie; when pressed, it makes a great cider; and the mashed pulp is superb food for pigs. In the orchard, the trees are not too tall, so that children can pick them without ladders, and the windfalls are fine to eat.
Under the terms of a bequest from a benefactor who wished to remain anonymous, each child in Beauneville may have one free Beauneville Beauty. The Beauties ripen early; and so, when the rest of America celebrates the long Labor Day weekend, the children of Beauneville gather in the hedges of forsythia and wisteria that surround each yard; and at the right moment they whisper to one another: "The Beauties are here".
