Heritage Apple Day in Langley was an opportunity to quite literally taste history, in the form of some apples you will not see in a supermarket, Joakim Nilsson, chair, Board of Directors of Derby Reach/Brae island Parks Association, said.
“Ones you have probably never heard of and you definitely can’t buy them in a store,” Nilsson told The Times Saturday.
“Some are better for eating, some are better for baking, but they definitely have a different taste,” he added.
“Some date back to the early 19th century.”
It was the 12th annual Heritage Apple Day in the Heritage area of Derby Reach Regional Park, hosted by the association.
There were more than a dozen different types of apples to sample under the awning on Allard Crescent, north of 96 Avenue.
There was also live music, a tour to learn about the heritage apples planted all along the Fraser, and where the original Hudson’s Bay fort was built.
Visitors could try a little apple cider and there were some old-fashioned chores for kids to try, like finding and hiding simulated eggs in hay.
Apples have a long history in Langley, starting the early 1800s when the Royal Engineers planted European varieties along the banks of the Fraser River at Derby Reach Regional Park.
So as not to disturb possible archaeological sites, Derby Reach Regional Park also boasts a “floating apple orchard” planted above ground grafted from some of the old historic apple branches.
In 2005, cuttings were taken from the old apple and pear trees in Derby Reach Regional Park and professionally grafted onto new root stock.
In 2011, 10 apple and pear saplings were planted.
According to one historic account, “The Forgotten Orchards of Derby Reach Park” by Sharon Meneely, the Johnny Appleseed responsible for the original apple orchard was a man named Roger.
The Meneely account quotes Danny Markow, whose father, William Markow bought the property in 1933, when Danny was only 10.
“According to Danny, the orchard was planted in the early 1890s by a black man named Roger, whose last name he did not know,” Meneely wrote.
“Roger had a little house next to the river and that house burned down to the ground before 1895. For a while after the house burned, Roger lived in a root cellar, under the roots of a large tree. And while Roger is long gone, remnants of his orchard remain.”
Most of the trees, she wrote, “were Northern Spy; some were crosses of King and Northern Spy. There were winter apples and russet apples; there were also winter pears, both round and long.”
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