Gunnison Lakeshore Orchards

The Gunnison family has grown apples on this stretch of Champlain shoreline since 1826 — six generations, 165 acres, and as of this fall, two hundred years in continuous operation. It is the only significant working orchard inside the Blue Line: the lake-moderated shelf at Crown Point is the one corner of the Park warm enough to ripen a commercial apple crop, and the Gunnisons have been proving it since John Quincy Adams was president. The orchard grows the Champlain Valley staples — McIntosh above all — plus modern varieties including SweeTango, which the farm grows as one of the variety's licensed orchards. The roadside operation on Route 9N is the visitor's end: the Olde Farmhouse Bakery with its cinnamon cider donuts, seven kinds of fruit pie, breads and pastries, and a gift shop of locally made goods. Closed Wednesdays. Pair it with Fort Ticonderoga or the Lakes to Locks shoreline drive — the orchard sits on the same corridor, and mid-October, when the lake country holds the last color of the Adirondack fall, is exactly when to be there.