Apple pickers and packers from the Watson Farm

Posted 16 August 2013 at 12:00 am

Vintage Orleans header

By Bill Lattin, Orleans County Historian

This photo, perhaps dating to the second decade of the 20th Century, has recently been given to the Cobblestone Society Museum by Robin Stelmach. Only partial information was written on the back, which includes: “Watson Farm on Million Dollar Highway – Milton Johnson.” The man at the far right with an X by his head is probably Johnson.

These men are engaged in sorting apples and putting them in barrels for shipping. The top of each barrel was faced with larger apples to make for an attractive appearance when the head was popped off.

A sorting rack is seen here in the middle while the man to the left shows off a bushel of large apples sorted out for facing.