Upper Valley Connections

Issue No. 22 · September 3, 2026

Apple season is officially open around the Valley, and this week we rounded up what's ready at orchards nearby and a little farther out. It's also a good week for local voices, with a Vermont novelist's book launch, a retired Dartmouth professor's debut novel, and a retired Hanover scientist's ice photography all getting their moment. Plus BrewFest returns to Colburn Park, and Monday is Labor Day -- several libraries and offices will be closed.

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Three things worth flagging for tonight: a free open house with live music at Upper Valley Music Center, right alongside the Lebanon Farmers Market at Colburn Park (4-7pm); a free talk at Norwich Public Library with Michael Tougias, author of more than a dozen books about New England, presenting a narrated slide history of the Connecticut River as part of the Vermont Humanities Speakers Bureau series (6:30pm); and a free local book launch for Elizabeth Wellington Rollins' debut novel "The Three Graces of Pearl Street" at Woodstock Town Hall Theater (7pm). Rollins lives in Vermont.

This week's highlights include an artist talk and karaoke night Friday, BrewFest at Colburn Park Saturday, a free kids' baking activity at King Arthur, an opening reception for a community quilting exhibit at Howe Library, and live music from ArtisTree's Music on the Hill series -- plus a reminder that Monday is Labor Day.

Farmers’ Markets

All eight of the season's markets are still running, though note that this Friday's Hartland market is the last of the season -- Lebanon, Hartland, Norwich, Mt Tom, Canaan, Honey Field Farm, West Hartford Library, and Market on the Green in Woodstock.

Ladders Against the Trees

Somewhere in the last week of August, without anyone announcing it, apple season started along the river. The orchards around here have been waiting for this since the blossoms opened back in May, and now the ladders are out and the bins are filling.

Riverview Farm in Plainfield sits right on the Connecticut, with more than fifteen pick-your-own apple varieties on the trees -- Honeycrisp is usually the first to draw a crowd. There's a corn maze, weekend horse-drawn wagon rides out to the orchard, and a farm store stocked with fresh doughnuts and pressed cider. Open Wednesday through Sunday. If you're in the area, Mac's Maple just down the road still has maple creemees going. riverviewnh.com

Up the hill in Lebanon, Patch Orchards has been farmed by the same family since 1775. Alongside pick-your-own apples -- Honeycrisp, Fuji, Gala, Paula Red, McIntosh, Macoun, Cortland, and more -- they run a cider donut counter, maple soft serve, and their own corn maze, with sweeping views back down toward the valley. There's also a playground, picnic tables, and a cornhole set, so it's worth packing a picnic lunch and making an afternoon of it. The farmstand is open daily, with picking available from late August into mid-to-late October. patchorchards.com

A few miles away, Poverty Lane Orchards -- home of Farnum Hill Ciders -- has been growing apples on the same land since the 1960s, split between familiar eating varieties and the unusual "Uncommon Apples" they grow specifically for fermenting into Farnum Hill's dry ciders. Picking typically runs from around Labor Day through Halloween, and the orchard is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so it's worth checking hours before heading over. farnumhillciders.com

Two more worth knowing about closer to home: Whitman Brook Orchard in Quechee is a restored heirloom orchard growing more than 140 apple varieties, many hard to find anywhere else -- picking opens Saturday, September 12 and runs weekends only (Saturdays 10-4, Sundays 10-3) through early November. And Cedar Circle Farm in East Thetford, the certified-organic farm and education center along the river, adds pick-your-own apples to its regular farmstand and cafe, open daily through October.

If you're up for a longer drive, three more are worth it: King Blossom Farm in Grantham grows heirloom Macs and Red Delicious dating back to the 1890s, alongside Cortland, Jonathan, and Rambo; Wellwood Orchards in Springfield, Vermont sends visitors out to the trees by wagon on weekends and starts its cider donuts the Saturday of Labor Day weekend; and Windy Ridge Orchard in North Haverhill, growing eighteen varieties with a cafe, farm winery, and mountain views, usually opens for picking around Labor Day and runs through Columbus Day.

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