Justin Morrill State Historic Site Hosts 19th-Century Apple Festival

Justin Morrill State Historic Site Hosts 19^th-Century Apple Festival

Nothing signals fall in Vermont so much as fresh pressed apple cider. The Friends of the Morrill Homestead at the Justin Morrill State Historic Site in Strafford will keep that tradition alive this Sunday, Oct. 12 from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Pressing cider in a vintage 19^th- century cider press is the focus of the annual 19^th-Century Apple Harvest Festival at the Gothic Revival Justin Smith Morrill Homestead located in the historic upper village of Strafford at 214 Justin Morrill Highway.

Visitors can take a turn at cranking the crushing gears on the cider press and watch the juice flow as the press screw tightens on the crushed apples. The juice will then pass through a sieve, be bottled up, and ready to take home.

The festival includes many apple-related activities, with apple pastries for sale, and many heirloom apple varieties will be available for tasting. Johnny Appleseed is planning to stop by, and there will be tours of the historic Morrill apple orchard and many family activities. Folks can also enter their own apple pie in the pie contest by 11:45 a.m.

Morrill represented Vermont in the US House of Representatives and Senate from 1854 until his death in 1898. He is nationally known as the chief sponsor of the Land Grant Acts which became the most important piece of education legislation in the 19^th century.

Morrill’s homestead in Strafford is an outstanding example of a Gothic Revival cottage, a style of architecture popular in America during the 1840s and 1850s. The 17-room cottage incorporates much of the architectural detailing that is the hallmark of the Gothic Revival style and is located in a period landscape designed by Justin Morrill using various books of the time as a guide.

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