Apple Picking in the Hudson Valley
By FUPress
6th October 2010
A few weekends ago, I managed to catch the beginning of apple-picking season. I hopped in my car with a friend and drove up the Taconic to Miller Hill Road and wound down around the trees until we reached Fishkill Farms. It was a hot sunny day that didn’t feel like fall, but it was early enough to pick Macintosh apples. The small wiry trees seemed a lot closer to the ground than I remembered. We were able to pick a sack full of apples in record time, snatching apples from heavy branches, walking up and down the perfect rows. It’s sad when climbing trees becomes optional.
Then we wandered over to the farm store and got my favorite—warm apple-cider donuts. There was a small porch at the back of the store that looked out on the dusty orchards. Everything was very green, but I still wished for the cooler weather, for a drive when all of the leaves change. The Taconic is my favorite highway to drive in the fall. It’s not a boring interstate that runs straight across the country intersecting with other major highways at 90 degree angles for the most economical trip. The Taconic rolls through the land. It’s made for a wanderer. I found a brief history here. If you get a chance to drive it, I recommend crossing the bridge over the Croton Reservoir on a clear day.
But, if you can’t make it up the Taconic this fall, you can see the imagination of the Hudson Valley captured in historic postcards from River of Dreams by George Lankevich or explore the history of another beautiful parkway, the Bronx River Parkway in Westchester: The American Suburb by Roger Panetta.
Katie Sweeney