My grandpa, Harold Wilkinson, bought 278 acres on the south end of Marble Lake in 1928 with the help of his future in-laws. One year later, he was married. In 1930, he began planting the orchard. By the time the trees started bearing fruit, he had 200 apple trees and 400 peach trees. He named his farm Orchard Beach Farm, and for the first several years, it was known as the peach orchard. However, peach trees don’t live as long as apple trees this far north, and by the time I was born in the 60s, it was the apple orchard. Later, he also planted Bartlett Pear trees and Montmorency (tart) cherry trees. We are still harvesting apples, pears and cherries from the trees my grandpa planted during his lifetime.
Ruth Anne Boone
Orchard Beach Farm 