When my wife and I drove up to Northfield to view the damage from Friday evening’s fire, we were devastated. The Cider House which I had built from the ground up was gone. After reading the story of the fire in The Recorder, I feel compelled to add important information that was not included in your story about this historic place.
I purchased the farm in1972 from Gene Galvis for a Residential Learning Center for disadvantaged youth from the Department of Youth Services. It served this purpose for several years.
We began to build the five-acre orchard of heirloom apple varieties in 1980. It was the first farm of its kind in the area. In 1987, we changed the name to Greenwood Farm and built the Cider House, and for fifteen years that Cider House gave us the great products that were much loved by our Northfield customers, including sweet cider, cider jelly, cider syrup, apple butter, apple sauce and the best antique variety apples available in Franklin County.
In 1989, Yankee Magazine did a feature article on the farm and its unique apple products and two years later the Los Angeles Times did a special story on Greenwood Farm Cider Syrup. This began our mail order business and the sending of products around the country.
The loss of the Greenwood Farm Cider House was a great sadness for our family and I suspect for many of our loyal Northfield customers. The story of Greenwood Farm deserves to be a part of the history of this very special place.
Neal Smith
Montague