Georgia's Apple Capital
Explore Ellijay's Orchards
Gilmer County grows more apples than any other county in Georgia. These family orchards and apple houses are where to find them, most along GA-52 East.
Hours and U-pick dates change every season and with the weather. Check each orchard's website or social pages before you drive out, especially early or late in the season. For what ripens when, see the Ellijay apple picking calendar.
B.J. Reece Orchards
9131 Highway 52 East, Ellijay · 706-276-3048
A family-owned orchard with U-pick apples every day in September and October, a country bakery known for fried pies and apple cider donuts, and a petting farm. The market and bakery are open year-round (Monday–Saturday 9–6, Sunday 1–6).
U-pick tickets are sold at the gate, with no reservations, and the last tickets go at 5 p.m. Leashed dogs are welcome in the orchard but not in the petting zoo or market. Reece's Cider Co. sits just across the highway.
R&A Orchards
5505 Highway 52 East, Ellijay · 706-273-3821
R&A traces its start to 1947, when Leonard and Della Payne planted their first apple trees in Gilmer County. Roger and Ann Futch joined the operation in 1969, and the roadside market opened in 1972. The family still runs it today on about 160 acres of fruits and vegetables.
The market, bakery and cafe are open year-round. U-pick runs on weekends in season, along with tractor rides, a cow train and U-cut flowers.
Aaron Family Orchards
8350 Highway 52 East, Ellijay · 706-669-7342
Shafter Aaron and his four sons started growing apples in 1938, before the United States entered World War II, as a way to bring in a little more income for the family. Next to his house he began building what became known as Aaron's Apple House. Aaron Family Orchards carries on that family history today.
Penland's Apple House
41 Talona Mountain Rd (GA-515), 706-635-5110 · 7678 Tails Creek Rd (GA-282), 706-635-5100
A family-owned orchard that has been growing apples in Georgia since 1936. Penland's runs two apple houses in Ellijay, open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from mid-May through November.
Hillcrest Orchards
9696 Highway 52 East, Ellijay
The family has grown apples here since 1946, when Hayward Reece came home after World War II. Now in its fourth generation, the farm offers U-pick apples from early September until the crop is picked. Come early in the season for the best picking.
On fall weekends, the Apple Pickin' Jubilee adds cow milking, mini golf, live bands, cloggers and swimming pig races. U-pick is priced separately from Jubilee admission.
Red Apple Barn
3379 Tails Creek Road (GA-282), Ellijay
Red Apple Barn grew from W.T. Pritchett's love of gardening and his son Marvin's dream, sparked by a Stark Brothers Nursery catalog, of raising apples like the ones pictured there. The family planted its first 100 trees in 1965 and built the original 20-by-20-foot barn around 1971.
U-pick began in 2010. Pumpkins and flowers join the apples in season, and the market is open Monday–Saturday 9–6 and Sunday 1–5:30.
Panorama Orchards & Farm Market
Ellijay, Georgia
A family fruit farm established in the 1920s. Panorama grows more than 20 apple varieties, plus peaches from about May through late August. Its market sells fruit along with house-made fried pies, ice cream, fudge, apple cider donuts and apple brandy cake.
Mack Aaron's Apple House
8955 Highway 52 East, Ellijay · 706-273-3600
Mack and Joyce Aaron built the apple house at its current location in 1977 and opened for the 1978 season. In 2008 they handed day-to-day operations to their son and daughter-in-law, Bill and Gina Aaron. It is open all year, daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Plan your orchard day
Most of these orchards sit within a few miles of each other on GA-52 East, so it is easy to visit two or three in an afternoon. Our guide to Ellijay's apple orchards compares them side by side. The Highway 52 apple house drive lays out a route, and how to store a bushel of apples covers what to do with your haul.