Some farms have a founding date. Shaw Orchards has a paper trail. Their original deed sits in the family’s hands, dated back to the 1840s. The commercial orchard started in 1909, back when a rail line nearby carried apples straight to Baltimore. Barron Shaw runs the farm now, though the path there took a detour. He spent 20 years as an engineer before coming back in 2013. “Farming is my second act,” he says.
The farm covers about 300 acres near White Hall, growing far more than apples, like peaches, berries, cherries, plums, grapes, pears, pumpkins and sweet corn. But apples are the star, especially in the fall.
Around 25 varieties grow here, including more commonly known apples such as Gala and Honeycrisp, planted across the biggest acreages. The fun starts with the ones that aren’t as familiar.
Barron says that Ludacrisp is a newer apple with a complex, almost tropical flavor. Evercrisp stores so well that customers report eating theirs well into spring. Then there’s Suncrisp that catches people off guard. “My staff calls this one their favorite ‘bananas’ because it is so tropical tasting,” Barron says. He tastes apples all day to check ripeness, but usually finishes a whole Suncrisp.
His advice for anyone visiting is to skip the familiar. “I’d suggest that shoppers pick out an apple that they haven’t seen or tried before,” Barron says. “There is a good reason we carry many of those obscure varieties.”
Modern orchards don’t look like the storybook version. Trees grow close together, trained along wires like grapevines so sunlight reaches the fruit and the branches don’t buckle under the weight. Every tree gets touched by hand several times a year and passed by a tractor about 40 times. There are thousands of them.
Care is year-round with winter pruning, spring spraying against mid-Atlantic humidity, hand thinning, summer training, weed control and mowing every couple of weeks. “The care is exhausting and never stops,” he says.
The 2026 season was rough. Hard spring frosts wiped out the farm’s stone fruit crops completely. About 80% of the apple crop was lost, with damage to much of what stayed on the trees. Barron burned brush fires in the orchard that night to fight the cold, but it didn’t help.
So, expect a shorter apple season this year. Some varieties will come and go fast. Others, like Honeycrisp, Gala and Golden Delicious, should still be around in good supply. Barron says that their pears did surprisingly well, and the pumpkins and winter squash will be in abundance because they went big with the plantings.
Pick-your-own is a real focus Shaw Orchards, spread across about 25 acres. They don’t require tickets or reservations. And, parking is free. For most crops, you just pay for what you fill your basket with. “It is an old-fashioned approach, but so far it has worked for us,” Barron says.
One last tip from the farmer: keep your apples cold. They hold best right around 32 degrees.
Be sure to check social media or call before you go to a pick-your-own apple orchard for hours of operation and types of apples available for picking.
Hungry for more? Read about Maryland apples. Find other apple orchards.