The Apples of Their Eyes
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Over 50 years ago, David Butler spent a long winter helping his father plow the ground for 2500 apple trees on Mt. McAlpine which overlooks the southern end of what is now the Village of Flat Rock. Little did that teenage boy know that he was actually planting the seeds for a very successful and rewarding life as the owner and operator of one of Henderson County’s most iconic apple orchards.
Today, David and his delightful wife/business partner, Lindsey, spend each fall overseeing Sky Top Orchard - a bustling agritourism business that attracts thousands of visitors to Flat Rock each summer and fall. What started in the 1960s as a commercial apple orchard is now a go-to destination for families and friends to pick apples, purchase apple cider, visit with Sky Top’s cute menagerie of animals, take old-fashioned hayrides, enjoy picnics, and - most importantly for many - eat the very best apple cider doughnuts in Henderson County.
Flat Rock was a very different place when Everette Butler purchased the original 80 acres on a mountain top in 1966. “I grew up in South Florida, lived there the first 15 years of my life,” explains David. “But my mom and dad always loved the mountains, and my siblings and I actually spent time at summer camps here. This was just such a pretty piece of property. And I have to tell you it was very remote at the time!”
The Early Years
The trees David helped plant started producing fruit in the early 1970s. “Our first apples were harvested in 1971,” says David. “We were strictly a commercial operation then, so we sold to Gerber Baby Food and Ingles and Winn-Dixie which was a big chain store at the time.” But the commercial apple business was not always lucrative and success was not always a walk in the orchard/park for the Butler’s. Much depended on uncertain variables such as weather, the relative abundance of crops from year to year, and fluctuating demand for apples.
The Butler’s in the early years.
David graduated from Hendersonville High School and left for college in the very early days of the business. He started at Florida State but eventually transferred to the University of South Carolina so that he could be closer to the orchard to help out on weekends and during the busier times of the year. While in Columbia, David managed to find “the apple of his eye” and ultimately returned to live full-time in Henderson County with his new bride, Lindsey. The young couple moved into the summer cabin on the orchard property and never looked back.
Lindsey admits now, however, she had no idea how her life with David would unfold. “When I met David, Sky Top was not open to the public. It was strictly commercial.” Sweeping her arm towards the hubbub of activity in the Sky Top pavilion and the orchards beyond, she adds, “I never dreamed that we would be doing all of this.”
David and Lindsey continued with commercial apple operations through the 1970s. Then in 1980, Lindsey proposed an idea that would dramatically alter the look of the Sky Top Orchard operation for the next 40 years. “She had the idea to offer an option of ‘you-pick’ because a lot of people wanted to come out to the farm to get some fresh fruit,” David explains. At the time, however, David wasn’t fully on board with the idea. “I reluctantly said ‘yes’.” And then with a grin adds, “Over the years I’ve learned that it was a very, very good decision.”
Transition to Agritourism
As it turned out, Lindsey had instinctively tapped into a growing public interest in farms and agritourism. “Yeah, it was kind of my idea,” she recounts modestly. “People kept wandering up and asking ‘Are you open up to the public. Can we go pick apples? Can we see the orchard?’ So we kind of started very slowly. We sold apples in the yard and then through the years added things. I never dreamed we'd do it at this level.” Lindsey laughs as a nearby family with two young children picks up a basket and heads down to the orchard, “But it's a good thing!”
As the orchard - and the Butler family - grew through the 80s, David, Lindsey and their three children remained committed to the enterprise and the lifestyle. “It was a challenge. But it was fun. Having apples and growing fruit has always kind of been my passion,” says David. “And when I look back on my life, I had to give up certain times on the weekends. My friends would all be going to do something and we'd have an obligation at the orchard. But I wouldn’t trade our life for anything.”
Fully 40 years on from the initial decision to go to You-Pick, Sky Top has added a cornucopia (appleucopia?) of new activities, amenities, and menu items to its repertoire of things to do and see. This year, visitors to Sky Top will find two new observation decks with spectacular views of the orchard and the surrounding mountains. They will also have an opportunity to fire an “apple cannon” that launches imperfect apples across the lake and into a pasture where goats and sheep will later clean up the fruity ordinance.
There are approximately 80 acres in production, and the Butler’s now own a total of 120 acres. These days they live in a house on the property set high on a hillside with incredible sweeping views of the mountains of both North and South Carolina. The orchard has two full-time employees, a half-dozen part-time, and as Lindsey describes them, a “multitude” of friends, children, and seasonal employees that keep Sky Top running smoothly for the season which starts August 1st and runs through December 1st.
The Orchard Today
David credits a hard freeze that ruined the crop in 2007 as providing the “inspiration by necessity” for Sky Top’s World Famous in Henderson County apple cider doughnuts. David and Lindsey discussed what they could do with the damaged crop and David suggested baking apple cider doughnuts. In this author’s completely unbiased opinion, this was clearly the single best business decision David ever made - in a career full of many good decisions.
Ironically, what has been arguably the most trying year in the lifetimes of most Americans, 2020 is turning out to be a very good year for Sky Top Orchard. For starters, it has been a good season for apples. “We're very fortunate. Other local orchards didn't have as much luck as we did. So far we have a beautiful crop of fruit. And that's very rewarding,” says David.
A good crop is a blessing but not something the Butler’s can count on from year to year. “You can count on one out of every five years to really be a tough year,” says David. “We have a big orchard with 30 varieties of apples. So we can survive one variety or another having a bad season. But even today, a hurricane could come in here with 60 mile per hour winds, and all our apples will be on the ground. So we always take it day by day.”
Lindsey and David Butler
On top of the good harvest, David and Lindsey are discovering that people are really searching for activities that allow for families to get out, have room to practice social-distancing, and enjoy the fresh breezes atop places like Mt. McAlpine. “People are disrupted. As you know, they're working from home. Some kids are studying till noon and then as a bonus or something to do, they come here. Sky Top is a family outing viewed to be safe.”
Visitors to Sky Top are genuinely grateful for the opportunity to spend time in the orchard. A fact which is immediately obvious by all the smiling and laughing families, the inter-generational feel of the crowd, and the almost palpable feeling of relaxation the crowd is experiencing as they are momentarily able to leave behind all the worries manifest during a pandemic. Lindsey loves to see the happy faces. “I love the orchard because of the joy that it brings. So many people say ‘Thank you for being open. It's the only normal thing I'm doing this fall.’ And so that's what makes it really special.”
Business partnerships can be fraught with peril, but David and Lindsey have grown up with the business - and each other - and have worked out an arrangement that allows them to keep both the orchard and their marriage intact. “We've learned to let each other have designated jobs and we try not to overlap the other's territory,” explains Lindsey. “You still bring home worries at night. But we each have our own place. You have to keep it a little bit separate.”
What's Next
After four-plus decades of operating Sky Top, David and Lindsey have also discovered that a successful business can be measured by much more than dollars and cents. In fact, during separate interviews, both of them became teary-eyed when asked what they enjoy most about operating the orchard. Their emotional responses make it clear that Sky Top is much more than a business for the Butler’s. It is their home. It is the place they raised their three children. And it is the place that has allowed them to literally host generations of families that return to Sky Top year after year.
“We've done it for so many years,” says David. “We've taught a lot of school kids through the years, and now they come back and bring their families with them. The child that was 10 years old in that school group many years ago is now 32 and bringing his children back. We've been part of so many family memories, and so many people love this place as much as Lindsey and I do.”
The corners of David’s eyes well up with tears. “People come back and say, ‘I lost my mother or grandparent and one of their last requests was to come back up to the orchard for a visit.’ Wow. That's so touching that other people have that much attachment to this ground that has been such a huge part of my life and the life of my family.”
Lyndsey has an equally emotional response when asked what makes Sky Top special. “The families that come here just…” her voice catches and she looks across the orchard as she tries to compose herself. “I do get tears in my eyes when I think of all the stories we hear. People come up and tell us that they've been coming for 30 years and they get sentimental about being in this place. Maybe someone has suffered an illness and they come up and they're on their walker and you can see how it's touched their lives. Or when people come up and are excited for us to meet their grandchildren. We’ve touched a lot of lives - which means so much to us.”
For the next three months, David, Lindsey, and all their staff will be busy seven days a week from 9 am to 6 pm as thousands of visitors - often making a pilgrimage of sorts - arrive at the orchard to enjoy the apples, the activities, the views, and the chance to leave their everyday concerns in the parking lot.
What does the future hold for the Butler’s and Sky Top Orchard? Like the generations of visitors they’ve hosted, the Butler’s have seen a lifetime of changes at Sky Top. The birth of their children. First days of school. Graduations. Weddings. And grandchildren. Not to mention employees that have become like family. All of which begs the question: How much longer will they do this? David laughs and says that he is not sure they will be allowed to stop. “I don't think we could close because a lot of people would be very upset with us.”
For now, when the season ends and David and Lindsay sit down to discuss how much longer they will continue to operate Sky Top, David has the same answer prepared every year. “I always tell Lindsey ‘one more year’. Let's do it for one more year.”
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For more information about Sky Top Orchard, visit skytoporchard.com .
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