It’s that time of year when you start reaching for a sweater in the mornings and the crisp smell of decomposing leaves starts to fill the air.
It’s also apple picking season! It’s one fall pastime that hasn’t seen many changes over the years, and almost always prompts a smile from young and old alike.
With a handful of orchards around the state, there’s plenty of opportunities to experience u-pick as well as take a stroll through the pumpkin patch. As we prepare for Maine Apple Sunday this weekend, we’re reflecting on past years of apple picking with some of the best photos in our archive.
Click each photo to expand it to full size, and click the arrows in full-screen to navigate the gallery.
Spike Carter carries apples to his car after harvesting them from wild or long untended trees on Deer Isle in this 2016 photo. Carter operated Pinch Cidery in Stonington. Credit: Gabor Degre / BDN Gabor Degre | BDN
John Bunker, a Maine apple expert, is seen at Super Chilly Farm in Palermo in 2017. Bunker helped to revive the Black Oxford apple, an apple traditionally grown in Oxford County in the 18th century. Credit: Gabor Degre / BDN Gabor Degre | BDN
This September 2013 photo shows Darald Howell washing apples at Gile’s Family Farm in Alfred before they are shredded and pressed into cider. Credit: Troy R. Bennett / BDN
Katie Russell and three-year-old Julianna Russell pick apples at Treworgy Family Orchards in Levant in September 2016. Credit: Ashley L. Conti / BDN
This September 2013 photo shows apple cider jugs being loaded into a crate at Gile’s Family Farm. The apples get processed from the bin to the bottle in a matter of minutes. Credit: Troy R. Bennett / BDN
Joan and Frank McElwain, owners of McElwain’s Strawberry Farm in Caribou, pose with “sweet sixteen” apples picked from their orchard in September 2022. Credit: Melissa Lizotte / Aroostook Republican
A young helper fills jugs with fresh-pressed apple cider at the Albion Cider Mill in September 2015. Credit: Courtesy of Rick Lawrence
Five-year-old Alyxandria Moore of Corinna examines a McIntosh while picking apples at Maine-ly Apples in Dixmont in September of 2007. Alyxandria was helping her mother pick the apples to give to her grandmother, who planned to use them to bake apple crisp. Credit: Kate Collins / BDN
An easy, traditional campfire snack is baked apples, which can be cooked in a Dutch oven or in aluminum foil placed on hot coals. Some people cut most of the core from the apple and fill the center with a sweet fillings that might include raisins, maple syrup, brown sugar or spices like cinnamon. The idea of filling apples with sweets and nuts dates to prehistoric times. Credit: Aislinn Sarnacki / BDN
apple 2 KB power pc. color. jpeg. ad style. George Stilphen, author of The Apples of Maine. George Stilphen, author of “The Apples of Maine,” is pictured in this October 2001 file photo. “There are apples that have an aftertaste of coconut, citrus, cloves. Modern apples are such a disappointment,” Stilphen told the BDN team. Credit: Kevin Bennett / BDN Kristen A story
A little boy clutches a delicious McIntosh in each hand as he runs to add to his family’s bushel basket in this 2014 photo. Credit: Brian Swartz / BDN
Lee West of Detroit, a seasonal worker at Maine-ly Apples in Dixmont, sorts through Jerseymacs at the 17-acre orchard in August of 2011. Credit: John Clarke Russ / BDN
From the Archives
2 year old David Payne sits atop a huge pile of pumpkins at Payne Gardens in Orrington, in this October 1973 BDN file photo. Credit: BDN Archive
A group of local kids play in a massive pile of leaves at the Thomas Hill Standpipe in Bangor in this early November 1978 file photo. Credit: BDN Archive
Families pick apples at Burns’ Orchard in Winterport in September 1980. Credit: Scott Haskell / BDN
Margie Downing of Etna climbs into a tree at Conant’s Orchard in Etna in order to pick apples in September 1976; a friend looks on. Credit: Carroll Hall / BDN
Families pick apples at Burns’ Orchard in Winterport in September 1980. Credit: Scott Haskell / BDN
A child inspects some freshly picked apples at a local orchard, in this October 1973 photo. Credit: David Bright / BDN
Families pick apples at Burns’ Orchard in Winterport in September 1980. Credit: Scott Haskell / BDN
A group of local kids play in a massive pile of leaves at the Thomas Hill Standpipe in Bangor in this early November 1978 file photo. Credit: BDN Archive
Want to see more great photos from past BDN stories and reporters? Check out our archive.