Sutton Beauty Apple Tree
This article by Patricia Nedoroscik originally appeared in the 2025 Winter edition of The Cultivator.
One of the most popular attractions during the Annual Farm Days is the building selling warm home-made apple crisp. The apple crisp area is overseen by our long-time tireless volunteer, Norma Bedrosian, and her army of helpers. In addition to the delicious treat, visitors can also go home with a “Waters Farm: A Collection of Apple Recipes” cookbook.
Have you ever wondered why apple crisp is the Farm Days signature dish?
Waters family historical records, journals, and diaries tell us that the original builder of the main house, Stephen Waters, began planting apple trees on the slope heading down towards Manchaug Pond. Later he was assisted by his son John, and records tell us that the two orchards-The Rhode Island Orchard and the Connecticut Orchard-consisted of more than 1,000 trees.
Walter Waters’ diary tells us, “The Sutton Beauty apple was developed on Waters Farm, by grafting, by great-great grandfather Stephen Waters (a Revolutionary soldier and builder of our house) from an old tree, long gone by, down in the lower end of the Connecticut Orchard. Cousin Jason Waters told me this.” A firm, medium size apple, it was excellent for storage and shipping long distances. Apples were said to have been shipped as far away as England. The stencil used to mark the apple crates is displayed in the farmhouse kitchen.
Apples not used for shipping were made into apple butter and apple brandy. Apple cider was made at the cider mill on the property. Walter tells us, “The cider mill was a necessity, from the earliest occupancy of the place, owing to the large hillside orchards, and great apple industry carried on here. The Old home-made account books, carefully kept by Stephen and John, are full of records of many “bariels” of cider, sold to neighbors; as also of grinding apples, bro’t in by surrounding farmers, to be made into cider.”
Records confirm that “the orchards were the finest of any around” and that “so much cider was made there, that the ground was said to be soaked in it.”
John’s son Nathan later owned the farm and took over the care of the apple trees, although the orchards had been split during a family rift with Nathan and his brother Richard. Nathan’s grandson, Walter, relates “Grandfather Nathan usually drank cider with his meals. I have the small cider pitcher which he used at the side of his plate”. Among her other chores, Nathan’s wife Ulva also made “boiled apple cider applesauce”, stored in the coldest portion of one of the house basements. When Walter visited his grandparents, one of his jobs was to go into the basement with a large bucket and scoop out the frozen applesauce to be served for the next meal.
When the apple stock got older and diminished, the apples were sold locally and used for the family’s consumption. After Nathan’s death in 1878, his son Samuel left his coal business in West Newton and moved his family to Sutton to run the farm. During that time, he even planted a new orchard of over 100 apple trees. Samuel, however, was not a farmer, and returned to West Newton after only three years, renting the farm to various tenants. He moved back during the summers but was never able to return the farm to its former glory.
In 2004, during the 300th anniversary celebration of the Town of Sutton, several Sutton Beauty apple trees were planted near the Blacksmith Shop on the farm. In addition to those trees, many others were planted on private property throughout the community.