There was a time when New Hamburg was full of orchards.
Every third or fourth house had at least a couple of fruit trees in their backyard, with Courtland, Northern Spy, and McIntosh apples sweetening everyone’s pies.
In 1896, watchmaker Leon Gustove Pequegnat owned a five-acre fruit farm between Jacob and Asmus Streets, bordered on the north by Seyler. At its height, he had a staggering 1,200 different varieties of trees. Those days are gone and, with our busy lives and well-stocked grocery stores, orchards no longer have a role to play in our community.
But Jeff Van Gyssel sees it differently.