History:
Owen Orchards began in the late 1920s and the early 1930s when Charles Owen a superintendent of local Cayuga County schools wrote letters to Isaac C. Rogers (breeder of the sweet and juicy Rogers McIntosh apple) about buying and planting apple trees. He started growing just a few trees and apple varieties McIntosh, Cortland, and maybe six others on a stretch of land way back in the distance off Route 5, located between Elbridge and Auburn, New York. In those early days, the original Owen Orchards store and farm market were housed in a 6’ x 10’ trailer.
It was in the late 1980s that Charles Owen’s grandson Gordon Tripp and his son, David Tripp, began planting, growing, and harvesting a wider variety of delicious apples in a newer and larger orchard. The original apple trees and orchard have since been retired, and now the current Owen Orchard location spans 30 acres dedicated to more than 25 varieties of apples. Another 10 acres are set aside for peaches, pumpkins, and squash when the weather cooperates.
In 2000, Owen’s family added a welcoming 1,500 square foot store, complete with cider mill, apple storage, and commercial kitchen. Today, Charles Owen’s legacy and reminders of those early days live on at Owen Orchards. The old trailer serves as a chicken coop, and the original antique tractors from the 1920s continue to intrigue visitors year after year, resting on the porch outside the Owen Orchards Cider Mill and Farm Market, right on Route 5 in Weedsport.
