Apple House - Mountain Farm Museum - near Cherokee, NC - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

County of sign: Swain County
Location of sign: US-441 (Newfound Gap Rd.), Mountain Farm Museum, N. of Cherokee
Phone: 865-436-7318
Marker erected by: Great Smokey Mountains National park; National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior

Sign Text:

Apple House For the mountain family, apples were a staple -- eaten raw and used to make cider, vinegar, apple sauce, apple butter, and pies. Storing them was important, as evidenced by the substantial apple house. Summer apples were stored on the upper floor, hardier winter apples were put in the ground-floor bins. Earth and thick stone walls provided insulation from cold and heat.

Photo Captions: This apple house was originally in Little Catalooche, North Carolina. The farm produced apples for commercial use -- hence this structures's larger size. It was built into a hillside, which put the upper floor on the back at ground level.

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apple house
Moved from Little Catalooche, NC.
  For most mountain families, fruit meant apples. The cooler climate of the mountains provided good apple growing conditions and most families had it least a few apple trees. Apples were eaten raw and used to make cider, vinegar, apple sauce, apple butter, and pies. It protected from freezing, some varieties stored well through the winter and continued to provide "fresh" apples for several months.

  Apple slices were often dried for later use, and some families "sulfured" apples to preserve them. To "sulpur" apples, slices of fruit were exposed to sulfur smoke to kill the bacteria. Sulfured and dried apples were used in the winter for stack cakes and fried pies.

  On its original site, this apple house was built into a hill side. The earth surrounding the lower portion insulated the apples from summer heat and winter cold. The hillside also permitted direct access to the upper floor. This structure was part of a farm that included large orchards and was used to store apples until they could be hauled to market."
~ Text by Tom Robbins, for Great Smoky Mountain Association & Nationals Park Service.

Group that erected the marker: Great Smokey Mountains National park; National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link] Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary: 1194 Newfound Gap Hwy, Cherokee, NC 28719-8249

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