06/04/2026
While it is no longer “sweet survival” , we continue to preserve this little piece of Shenandoah Valley history at Morning Star each October. We don’t pick the apples up off the ground anymore, but we do sit around in a circle sharing stories and peeling apples to be boiled down in copper kettles. Come visit with us and share in a little piece of Valley History this fall!
The Apple Butter Camps of Shenandoah, Virginia – 1933
In the Blue Ridge hollows during the Depression, orchards still bore fruit even when money didn’t. Families from Page County started “apple butter camps” each October. They pooled windfall apples too bruised to sell, peeled them in all-night circles while telling ghost stories, and cooked the mash in 50-gallon copper kettles over open fires. Women stirred with long maple paddles for 12 hours straight, trading shifts so no batch burned. Children sealed hot jars with rags and beeswax. One kettle made 80 jars, enough to barter for winter shoes, flour, and kerosene. When a frost killed half the crop in ’33, five families combined what was left and still filled 400 jars. They called it “sweet survival.” The camps ended with WWII, but mason jars of that batch were found in cellars 60 years later, labels faded but seals still tight.
