By Ray Robinson
From the November 16, 1994 edition of The New Castle Record
The lure of the apple orchards on the Fincastle road will surely entice one off the road to buy a few of those beauties. Seeing where they’re grown, somehow you just know that the ones right here are sweeter and fresher. Names like Grimes Golden, Rome, Stayman, Winesap, York, and the like are common to local orchards.
Names like Virginia Beauties and Falla Waters were common to me a s a kid. As I grew up and left home, I realized that no one, absolutely no one had ever heard of either kind and I got to wondering if, in fact, those were real names of apples, or perhaps my dad had just made those names up. A kid will normally believe most everything that his parents tell him and I did.
As I grew older and I thought a bit wiser, I took the jaded opinion that Dad, having limited schooling, has just made up those names. So, I just didn’t mention either of those apples to anyone outside of my own family.
When I’d mention Virginia Beauty or Falla Water, folks would just hike themselves up in their seats and ask “What kind of apple is that?” and usually a quizzled look would follow. I just got tired of explaining that those trees grew great eating apples and perhaps that’s not the real names, all the time making excuses for my dad and maybe he did just invent those names. So it was just easier to just leave them alone and so I did.
Then in the fall edition of Southern Living this year, there it was in black and white. Vindication, they really do exist.
The Southern Living had a page of little-known varieties of apples. They listed Arkansas Black from Benton County, Arkansas, Carolina Red June from North Caroline, Esopus Spitzenburg from New York, Rome Beauty from Ohio and Virginia Beauty from Carroll County, Virginia. They listed my apple as green and brick red fruit, tender, sweet flesh, good keeper, makes wonderful preserves.
Bless my late dad’s heart, he didn’t make it up after all. They really did exist and still do. My brother told me that on his last visit back home, both of those old trees were still there, “mostly dead branches but a few apples on them, maybe they’ll last another year or two.”
With that discovery, I wanted more information on the Falla Water apple, I just bet that it also existed. I called Jean Vandergrift, Home Extension Agent with Roanoke County and she tracked it down for me.
Back on the phone with Mrs. Vandergrift and she had all good information from the Associate Professor of Horticulture at Virginia Tech, Dr. Richard Marini. He sent the following, Falla Water, also caked ‘Tulpehocken’ (which I suspect is an Indian name, at least it sounds and looks like it should be Indian) originated in Burks Co. Penn., a large green apple from the 19th century.
Dr. Marini has more information on the Virginia Beauty also. His source told us that it came to Carroll County by way of Tennessee in the 1850’s. A Mr. Oliver grafted the tree in California.
It was just like finding a small treasure that you had assumed didn’t exist. I walked with a bit more spring to my step for the next few days. Just dying to tell someone about my new found information. And if you aren’t from Carroll County, Virginia Beauties probably aren’t all that big a deal. But to us Carroll Countians…….
-Prepared by Shelly Koon
