Want to try an apple variety dating to the 5th century? Visit Hocking Hills Orchard

LOGAN — Hocking Hills Orchard stands at the convergence point of history and deliciousness (and not just Red Delicious-ness).

“I’m into old history — and apples,” said Derek Mills, the owner of the orchard at 14435 Nickel Plate Road outside of Logan.

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Mills is a font of apple history — as is his orchard, which might contain more varieties of apple trees than any other in the country.

“This is not a normal orchard — it’s more like a living history museum,” Mills said.

“I say it’s a passion — my wife says it’s insanity.”

The motto at Hocking Hills Orchard is, appropriately enough, “Come taste history.”

Would you like to taste a variety favored by Benjamin Franklin?

Hocking Hills Orchard has it.

How about a variety munched on by Louis XIV, or one that may have inspired Isaac Newton to formulate his theory of gravity?

Check and check.

“If you want to eat the same (variety of) apple as Charlemagne, you can do it here,” Mills said.

Hocking Hills Orchard offers apple varieties not found in most stores

These aren’t the apples you’ll find in the typical grocery store produce section.

About 95% of all apples sold today come from just 12 cultivars, Mills said. But more than 7,500 varieties of apples are known. Hocking Hills Orchard grows about 1,600 of them. And Mills knows a thing or two, or three, about most of those varieties.

He tries to share stories with each customer who visits during U-pick season, which runs into October, he said.

“I do the apple geek thing,” he said.

Even if a certain variety is not the tastiest or most beautiful, “The story is what makes it so cool,” he said.

“I’ve always liked eating weird things.”

But don’t worry — among the varieties are some of the tastiest and most unusual to be found anywhere, including red-fleshed apples such as Burford Redflesh, originally found at the home of Patrick Henry; and cultivars traditionally used for cider such as Hewe’s Crab, planted by Thomas Jefferson in his orchard at Monticello.

“Apples offer many different flavors than what you might know” from store-bought varieties, Mills said.

Apples are thought to have originated in what today is Kazakhstan in central Asia. Varieties grown on the 55-acre Hocking Hills Orchard date back to the Decio apple, grown by the Romans in the 5th century. Other varieties include the Roxbury Russet, the oldest apple cultivar known to have been bred in America.

The orchard does offer some less ancient and more popular cultivars such as Jonagold and Red Delicious as well as dozens of varieties of pears, grapes and other fruits.

The orchard has gained quite a following

The fame of the orchard’s collection has spread far and wide.

“People come from everywhere during harvest season,” Mills said.

One family from England dropped in during a visit to the United States in part to taste heirloom English apples no longer available in their homeland, Mills said.

The orchard’s website offers more information about many of the varieties grown at the orchard, as well as links to organizations and other orchards dedicated to preserving and propagating heirloom and other unusual apples and other fruits.

Mills still has a day job (in information technology, not history), so the orchard is open only on weekends and has variable hours. Check the Hocking Hills Orchard page on Facebook for current times. U-pick apples are $10 per half-peck bag.

Mills and his wife, Lisa Mills, also operate Four Seasons Cabins, two rental cabins on the edge of the orchard featuring comfortable accommodations with hot tubs, hiking trails, a fishing pond and a gazebo, where wedding services are also available.

It’s a little bit like Eden — only you can, of course, eat the apples.

For more information on other things to see and do and places to stay in the Hocking Hills region, visit www.explorehockinghills.com.

Steve Stephens is a freelance travel writer and photographer. Email him at sjstephensjr@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Hocking Hills Orchard in Logan grows more than 1,500 apple varieties