Planted in 1973, originally in partnership with the Worcester County Horticultural Society, the Preservation Orchard is maintained on less than three acres of land next to the Village's Maintenance Department, where two trees of each variety are cultivated and kept protected as much as possible from plant diseases, severe weather, and the depredations of insects, deer, and wild turkeys. Staff Horticulturist Roberta McQuaid oversees the care of more than 100 antique varieties in the orchard. Over 50 early apple varieties are also grown within the historical Village, in the Towne and Freeman orchards and along roadside fence lines. Interestingly enough, apple seeds and seedlings aren't very helpful in keeping a specific variety going. It is part of the mission of the Village orchards to maintain living scions of many otherwise imperiled varieties.
Some early apples are just too tart for eating out of hand, but they make wonderful jelly.
And others that can't be eaten raw, say McQuaid and White, are often perfect for baking, or cider making, or stewing in cider to make apple butter. Researching early apples is very much like studying family history. Pomologists have established horticultural genealogies for a good many antique varieties.