What started as a carport fruit stand at the Kilpatrick family's East Tennessee farmhouse has grown over five decades into a 62-acre tourism destination drawing visitors from across the region and beyond.
The Kilpatricks kicked off the next 50 years of the Apple Barn and Cider Mill with a grand anniversary celebration at the farm, welcoming thousands of guests for cider tours, orchard wagon rides, live bluegrass, Southern barbecue and more apple desserts than we could count.
But the anniversary is as much about preserving a legacy as celebrating a milestone, said Kent Kilpatrick, who has spent all 47 years of his life talking about the apple business. It never gets old.
"We don't get tired of apples," he told Knox News. "I start the day with a cup
of apple cider every morning."
Their Sevierville property was a family farm with grazing beef cattle, rows of tobacco, four apple trees and two peach trees. But in the mid-1970s, the family experienced what Kent described as a "catastrophic crop failure."
His father, Bill, worked as a pharmacist at a local drugstore by day and ran the family farm after his shifts ended. As Black Shank disease ravaged the family's tobacco crop, he couldn't see a way forward, and the family lacked the resources to start over.
But he still had those four apple trees.
Kent's mother, Georgia, made delicious apple pies that brought neighbors from across town to their doorstep. Bill knew how to make apple cider. Maybe those four trees held the seed of a new business venture.
Five decades later, farmhands tend more than 5,000 trees. The orchard draws tourists to the region, especially in the fall, while the Applewood Farmhouse restaurants provide steady business throughout the year.
"Dad always says this is just a hobby that got out of hand," Kent said.
Carrying on a family tradition in a region that craves it
Kent was just 7 years old when his father's side venture upended family life. He and his older brother, Kevin, then 12, watched their parents move the family out of the farmhouse so it could be transformed into the Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant. It's a fond family story now, but Kent was devastated at the time.
"It was not well received," he said. "We were deflated."
He wouldn't be able to play in the dirt outside his home or jump into the waters of the Little Pigeon River after school. But Kent couldn't have known the success that would grow from that childhood heartbreak.
"That was a vision dad saw that we were too young to see," he said. "We were never expected to carry the torch, but we were determined to do it. It's a privilege and a responsibility."
Five decades after four apple trees helped save the family farm, Kent's ambitions extend beyond filling seats at the Apple Barn. He said he doesn't view other attractions as competitors, but as partners in drawing visitors to a region that has sustained his family for generations.
"We want people to come to the foothills of the Smokies," he said.
Want to join the celebration? The Apple Barn's 50th anniversary festival continues 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Oct. 10 and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Oct. 11. The festival is free to attend and includes wagon rides, tours, a petting zoo, live entertainment and plenty of apple-inspired treats.
Knox News reporter Joanna Hayes covers restaurants and retail for the business growth and development team. Email: joanna.hayes@knoxnews.com; Instagram: @knoxeat65. Sign up for Joanna's Eat65 email newsletter to get the latest drink and dining news, as well as restaurant recommendations, at knoxnews.com/newsletters.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: How four trees and crop disease led to 50 years of Sevierville's Apple Barn
