GREENFIELD — You could say it’s the group’s “core” fundraiser.
The Historical Preservation Society of Upper Township has scheduled its 25th annual Apple Festival for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, at The Gandy Farmstead, 26 Tyler Road in the Greenfield section of the township.
A rain date is set for Sunday Oct. 11.
New this year, attendees will get a preview of an expansion planned for the property. Linda Leonard, event chairwoman, said the group is adding a new building to house the canopy wagon stored in the barn, which in turn will allow the barn to be used as a display space for historical artifacts.
“We got permission to make this more of a little village that you can visit,” Leonard said, noting the foundations were close to completion.
Another building will provide space for activities and to serve food.
“It’s all in the works but it takes time,” Leonard said.
Festival attendees will have the opportunity to treat themselves to some fresh-picked apples, warm apple shortcake with whipped topping, apple tarts with ice cream and apple baked goods, along with grilled hot dogs and bratwurst, cold apple cider, soda and water.
In addition, there will be an Apple Pie Baking Contest, 14 vendors and craft demonstrations, live music with Linda Black and children’s games and activities.
Leonard said numerous community groups will be present.
“We will have representatives of the Bee Keepers, VFW and South Shore Stitchers” and others, Leonard said.
Members of the Environmental Club from Ocean City High School earn money for scholarships by helping set up and working the festival, “lifting all of the heavy stuff that we are getting too old to do.”
Admission, parking and tours of the house are free.
The festival is one of the major community-wide events held each year by the HPSUT and is a favorite fall gathering for residents and visitors of the township.
The HPSUT operates and manages three historic sites that are open to the public: the John Wesley Gandy House and Farmstead, ca. 1815; the Tuckahoe Train Station, 1894; and the Friendship School in Palermo, ca. 1830.
The two-story Gandy House was built in 1815 by Joseph Falkinburge for a tenant farmer on the original Henry Young Plantation.
Once again, docents in period clothing will be in the Gandy House to share its history.
Born in 1847, Joseph Wesley Gandy and his wife, Emma Lavinia VanGilder Gandy, raised six children in the three-bedroom home. Gandy lived in the house until his death in 1929.
In 1996, the heirs of Winifred Gandy donated the house and the one acre of land to the HPSUT so that it would be preserved to honor the Gandy family.
The home’s 17-foot by 20-foot footprint stands on granite pillars. The building is mortise and tenon construction and the floor joists are oak, with bark remaining on the bottom side.
Locally sourced bricks are porous, providing insulating properties, and the plaster walls contain fine hair as a binder, thought to be human hair.
The large brick fireplace was used for cooking, while the wall is paneled and includes a cupboard. A winding staircase ascends to the second floor, where the bedrooms and a second fireplace are located.
Public meeting
The HPSUT has scheduled its next public meeting for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, at the Upper Township Senior and Wellness Center, 1369 Stagecoach Road.
The topic will be Natural Burial in South Jersey. Ed Bixby is the owner of the historic Steelmantown Cemetery in Upper Township, which became the first Green Burial Cemetery in New Jersey.
Bixby will present its history and development among the forest and nature trails that he created. He operates 15 green, formerly neglected burial grounds throughout the United States as part of his company, Destination Destiny Memorials.
Part of the cemetery dates back to the 1790s. Another part of it is where men and boys from the Woodbine Developmental Center were buried.
