Saylor Orchard

About Us:

Saylor Orchard was founded on March 25, 1963 by me, Jim Saylor.  I married Betty Jean Hilemon on Dec. 21 that same year.  We have been co-owners since that time.  I started out with 300 Red Delicious trees which I ordered from Stark Bro's. in the fall of 1962 to be shipped the following spring.  In the summer of 1963 I ordered 100 Golden Delicious trees for a fall setting.  I set those trees  on the day President John Kennedy was shot, Nov. 22, 1963.  I had just finished setting the trees and went down to the lake, we have a 5 acre lake about the center of the orchard, to wash the dirt off of my hands.  I had the truck radio on and the news came over it.

In 1977 we installed an overhead irrigation system for frost and freeze protection.  There are several pictures on the photo gallery page of how it protects from frost and freeze. It also works for soil moisture and for fruit cooling.  We have only completely lost one crop since installing the irrigation and that was 2007 when we had a full week of below freezing temperatures and one day with a high temperature of 26.  The trees were almost full bloom.  There is also pictures of the damage on the photo gallery page.

In 1980 we built a cold storage and packing house.  In 1988 we doubled the size of the cold storage.

We normally open our roadside stand about the middle of September depending on the season.  We have several size containers from half pecks to bushels.  We also sell by the pound.

We have several varieties of apples, fresh apple cakes, apple jelly and apple butter.  We are open from 8 AM until 5PM 6 days a week.