- The Orchard at Altapass is part working orchard, part living mountain heritage.

You can stroll through apple trees, enjoy fresh-baked apple pie, listen to mountain music, and enjoy beautiful views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

♪ - The Altapass Foundation is the arm that manages the Orchard at Altapass.

Our mission is to preserve and protect the land, the butterflies, the birds, the heirloom apples, all these wonderful gifts that we have here on the Blue Ridge Parkway and in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Goes back to 1908 when this orchard was actually finished and built by Clinchville Railroad.

It went through many changes over the years, and then mid-1990s, our founders decided that they needed to protect it, that this was bigger than any of us ever thought of being.

And so they made it a non-profit in 2006 in order to protect it for generations to come.

- So the aftermath of Helene, it was devastating.

The roof was gone and most of the rafters and structure for the back porch, water was all over the floor.

We lost close to 500 apple trees, landslides all over the orchard, all of our culverts washed up.

I mean, it was a disaster.

Took a lot of work through the winter to open again, and we still have a lot of work to do.

But as devastating as the aftermath was, it could have been so much worse.

[upbeat music] - Our staff are very resilient, and so are the people of these mountains.

I mean, they really stepped up.

So many people were hurt, so deeply lost their homes.

We still have a lot of work to do on the farm, a lot of work to do on the farm.

You have 70 acres that shifted pretty much.

We lost some of it, but actually the trees have never produced so much since I've been here, as they did this year from all the moisture that it brought.

[upbeat music] - People can expect an experience and they can expect to enjoy what we call the good stuff of Southern Appalachia.

Everything we have here, it's the apples, it's the fresh baked apple pie in the mornings, it's these mountain views, it's the mountain music, the dancing, it's the stories, it's the wagon ride, you know, through the conserved land.

So they get a sense of pride, and by coming here, they're taking part in the conservation.

[upbeat music] - My family has been coming up here for, oh my goodness, probably about 40 years.

This is our family reunion place.

You walked in and everybody was so welcoming, aroma of fresh baking apple pies in the oven, it captured us.

The apple picking captured us.

It was just a magic place.

Wonderful friends, great people, became a second family, the orchard family.

So that's how we found it.

And that's why we're still here.

- I think you should make a stop here for a lot of reasons.

One is it's beautiful.

I mean, it's just one of the best places I think you could sit and eat some ice cream on a porch and eat an apple, get a chance to have all these different varieties of apples.

There is this great music that you can come out here and see, and it's just got a great homey kind of an atmosphere.

And the views really, really can't be beat.

It's just got this - and it's just gentle breeze that keeps going while you're up here.

- Every weekend when it's open, I kind of head up a jam group that meets every Thursday and we play tunes.

I play claw hammer banjo.

It's really wonderful.

The atmosphere is why we come here.

I have a daughter that passed away several years ago.

Her ashes are up there in the butterfly garden.

Why?

Because I wanted to put those ashes in a place that's gonna be here for a long time, maybe forever.

(gentle music) - The peace that exists here, we're protecting it so that they can enjoy it.

But most of all, that they enjoy their time here and that they'll come back every year.

And they do, they come back every year and they drive from far away to come back for the experience that they have here.

And they just need to know that we appreciate them coming and that we welcome them here all the time.

And we wanna hear their stories as well 'cause they become part of us.

They're part of our bigger family.

(gentle music) - The Orchard at Altapass is located in Spruce Pine and they're open seasonally beginning early May through the last weekend of October.

For more information on specific hours, visit altapassorchard.org.