PINNACLE, N.C. — This is truly a Triad treasure. Once a family farm, Horne Creek enables visitors to experience farm life in our area as it was around 1900. The site features the family's original farmhouse, a tobacco curing barn, a corn crib, adjacent fields under cultivation, and even a heritage apple orchard.
And that is where this story begins.
"Lee Calhoun was the inspiration and the beginning to all of this," said Horne Creek Farm Horticulturalist Jason Bowden, "He started on a journey of searching for rare apples that took him all over the state in search of restoring these apple types."
Calhoun would take twigs to graft onto rootstock in his orchard. He would advertise in local newspapers and spoke with people whose grandparents were alive in the 1800s and would recall the names of these apples.
" Lee's work resulted in about 300 rare apple varieties coming to our farm and literally being brought back from the dead. You can't find the apples we have in any grocery store. Some of these varieties are so unique. Some taste like strawberries others like blueberries," said Bowden
If you want to visit the Southern Heritage Apple Farm at Horne Creek just head up highway 52 north of Winston-Salem and follow the signs near Pinnacle, NC.
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