There’s nothing quite like biting into a fresh and juicy apple on a crisp fall day. Fortunately, if you live in Georgia or are visiting the area, there are quite a few apple orchards where you can celebrate the season by picking your own and buying them straight from the farm. A majority of the apple orchards in Georgia are located in the Ellijay area, but there are a few elsewhere in the state too. Here are our favorite destinations for farm-fresh apples this fall!
Red Apple Barn, Ellijay
If you visit Red Apple Barn on weekends in September and October, you can pick your own apples in Ellijay. This is a fun place to bring the whole family out for a wagon ride through the orchards to choose the apples that look most delicious to you. The U-pick times are Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1-4 p.m. For $10.75, you’ll get a tractor ride to and from the orchard, an apple, a cup of apple cider, an apple cider doughnut, two flowers, water, rock and pumpkin painting, games, and access to the playground and picnic area. You can pick additional apples for an extra fee.
If possible, plan your visit to the Ellijay Apple Festival while you’re in the area, too. There is also a pumpkin patch here at the Red Apple Barn, and during peak times, additional parking is provided in the hay field. Small-to-medium-sized dogs on a leash are welcome in the farm area.
Mercier Orchards, Blue Ridge
Mercier Orchards is a great place to pick apples in the Blue Ridge area, and this is a family-owned and operated orchard in its fourth generation. U-pick apple events are offered on weekends, weather permitting, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in September. Live entertainment is provided on Saturdays, as well as apple U-pick and tractor tours in September. There are usually about a dozen varieties of apples available here in September. Although U-pick events aren’t typically offered in October, you can take a tractor tour, have a hard apple cider, and then shop for freshly harvested apples in the market. Mercier offers hard-pressed beverages year-round, and it’s the only apple orchard in Georgia that grows, presses, ferments, and bottles its own hard cider. It goes perfectly with their homemade fried pies. Various flavors of hard cider are made with the different types of apples grown at Mercier.
Hillcrest Orchards, Ellijay
Weekends in Ellijay are also fun when you visit Hillcrest Orchards between Labor Day and the beginning of November. For a weekend admission price of $18, you can pick your own apples, milk a cow, watch swimming pig races, and see live bands and cloggers take the performance stage. U-pick is offered from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and two bag sizes are offered. Popular varieties that you can pick in the orchard are Rome Beauty, Golden Delicious, Mutsu, and Granny Smith. If you don’t want to pick your own apples, you can shop for even more varieties in the market and taste other fall foods at Country Cafe, Hillcrest Grill, and Grist Mill. There is also an apple tree maze that you can go through to see the trees up close and try to find your way out.
B.J. Reece Orchards, Ellijay
The U-pick apple season at B.J. Reece Orchards runs from around late August to late October, and unlike some of the other orchards listed here, you can pick apples every day of the week between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. This is a family-owned and operated orchard in the North Georgia Mountains, and the market typically stays open to sell pre-picked apples through mid-December. B.J. Reece actually has five different orchards within a two-mile radius, so you can find other types of apples in the market besides the ones offered for U-pick. The entry fee for U-pick per person over two years of age is $8 on weekdays and $13 on weekends. Apple costs are $10 per half-peck bag and $20 per peck bag. Other fun activities to do on the farm on fall weekends are pony rides, a scavenger hunt through the corn field, a giant jumping pillow, ziplines, the petting farm, and apple cannons.
R & A Orchards, Ellijay
R & A Orchards, with a history that dates back to 1947, offers U-pick apples starting in September. You can also shop for approximately nine varieties of apples, over a dozen varieties of homemade pies, fresh veggies, and more. There’s a café onsite to order comfort food favorites, like homemade chicken and dumplings. The cafe is typically open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Farm tours are also offered every weekend in September here.
Panorama Orchards, Ellijay
If you want to shop for apples and apple-baked goodies but not necessarily go out to pick your own, stop by Panorama Orchards. This family farm was established in the 1920s and has about 20 varieties to buy, as well as peaches and fall vegetables. They even sell homemade ice cream, fudge, and fried pies. Stop by any day of the week from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
