Thornton River Orchard: Back to a Rappahannock mainstay, with a twist
When he was a year old, Allan Clark moved from Fairfax to the base of Old Rag Mountain, and he has been fastened to the Rappahannock landscape ever since. After school, he mixed carpentry work and small-time farming, turning in 2015 to the county’s onetime economic mainstay — apples. Leasing land from the Jenkins family, he planted apple and pear trees, including lesser-known varieties like Evercrisps, Pink Ladies and Arkansas Blacks. Tall deer fencing went up to protect the newly planted trees.
Strategically located between Sperryville and the national park entrance, the 30-acre orchard is positioned to intercept hikers and foliage watchers as they come off the mountain. But more customers were waiting in the city, so Thornton River sets up at two Washington area farmers markets every week.
As Clark sees it, the orchards of old were ensnarled in a complex business of juicing, processing and distributing fruit through a chain of intermediate businesses. Contracts were complicated and regulations could be heavy. Direct sales to customers are simpler, cleaner and more profitable. The younger-generation component comes through the Clarks’ 27-yearold daughter, Megan, who studied business and agriculture in college. Four workers help from August through December.
“You’ve got to diversify,” Clark says, “and sell directly to the customer.” Alongside the fruit and vegetables, the Clarks churn out a stream of value-added products: Bloody Mary mix with horseradish, Vidalia onion peach sauce, hard cider, and in the latest innovation, apple cider slushies.
Like other Rappahannock farms, Thornton River found that the pandemic expanded business. The two farmers markets led to direct customer deliveries. In the late spring, Thornton brought in as many as 50 boxes of fruit and other products for individual customers to pick up. For one Chevy Chase, Md., customer who was wary of crowded markets, Clark delivered the produce box to her door. “We show people we’re loyal to them and they show us they’re loyal back,” he says.
A natural optimist, Clark expects problems, but also solutions. Stinkbugs damage the apple trees, but Samurai wasps are beginning to punish the notorious pest. Berries involve a lot of work, but Thornton might draw people to the farm with a pick-your-own arrangement. Apples were left spotted by the surprising Mothers’ Day freeze in May, but they recovered their flavor.
Although he leases the land his orchard occupies, land- use tax policy is important because it helps the owner keep the leasing costs down. “Land-use to Rappahannock County and to rural land is the only way you’re going to keep people doing this,” says Clark. “We don’t want to be the next Prince William or Fairfax County.”