THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 3, 1995 TAG: 9509010068
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STEVE HARRIMAN
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
IT ALWAYS SEEMS ODD, when it's still so warm, to write about the coming of autumn and the wonderful patchwork quilt of reds, oranges, yellows, purples and browns that blankets the entire state.
But more than a half-century of experience tells me that the weather will cool and the leaves will turn and the views will be glorious and we will be able to breathe the air again without scorching our lungs.
So, this is your first Fall Foliage Alert. You do want to make plans, don't you?
Mark your calendar: You can expect leaves to be at their ``peak'' anywhere from Oct. 10 to 25 in the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains; the colors gradually move toward our coastal flatlands, much as you'd pull a quilt from your toes up toward your chin, in a subtle process that can take until anywhere from late October to mid-November to complete.
I was reminded by the Virginia Division of Tourism that fall also is apple harvest (and festival) time. Guess I've been away from my Shenandoah Valley roots too long. Yes, that makes fall doubly grand.
Apple harvesting is a Virginia tradition that dates back to, well, sometime after 1662 - not to put too fine a point on it. That was the year that Jamestown settlers grafted the first apple tree root stocks they'd gotten from the London Company with native Virginia crab apple trees. And the rest is history.
Virginia's more than 300 commercial orchards produce an average of 100 million bushels annually. That's sixth highest in the nation.
Just the saying the names - Red and Golden Delicious, Jonathan, Rome, Stayman, Winesap, Gala and York, to name a few - brings that special apple aroma to my nose, those special tastes to my mouth, that unique crunch of the first bite to my ears. And then there's apple cider and apple butter and . .
If you want apples, head for Winchester, which calls itself the apple capital. It is surrounded by some of the largest orchards in the East and has some of the largest apple processing plants in the country. On Sept. 15-16, Winchester hosts the Apple Harvest Arts and Crafts Festival.
Here are some other ideas for experiencing the apples and leaves:
Graves Mountain Lodge Apple Harvest Festival is held on two consecutive weekends, Oct. 14-15 and 21-22, in the morning side of the Blue Ridge near Syria in Madison County, north of Charlottesville.
Just outside Charlottesville, at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, an apple tasting - 35 varieties popular in the 19th century - will take place Oct. 14. Same day, 14 miles south of Charlottesville, is the Cove Garden Ruritan Apple Festival.
Nelson County, a half-hour south of Charlottesville, is serious apple country. Sept. 22-23, Drumheller's Orchard off U.S. 29 near Lovingston, is holding an Apple Harvest and Apple Butter Festival.
If you like to pick your own, you can get a special brochure, ``Virginia Grown: A Guide to Pick-Your-Own and Fresh-Picked Produce, Honey and Retail Farmers' Markets,'' from the Virginia Division of Tourism by calling (800) 932-5827. OTHER COUNTRY CHARMS
If apples and leaves don't strike your fancy, how about some other sorts of plain ol' country stuff? The Southampton Agriculture and Forestry Museum and the Rochelle-Prince House at Courtland (an hour west of Norfolk on U.S. 58) is planning a Heritage Day from 10 to 4 Sept. 16.
They're planning to demonstrate such things as peanut cooking, hominy, lye soap and butter making, cracklings and lard rendering, diesel engine and sawmill operations, cotton ginning, dulcimer making and playing, line dancing - all sorts of things that are handy to know about if you're living in the Southeastern Virginia country.
Lots of stuff for kids, too. Admission is $2 for adults, $1 for schoolchildren. MEMO: Travel-wise is compiled from wire-service reports, news releases, trade
journals, books, magazines and the deepest recesses of the writer's
mind. Send comments and questions to Travel-wise, The
Virginian-Pilot/The Ledger-Star, Norfolk, Va. 23501-0449; phone (804)
446-2904. by CNB