Journeying to Justus Orchard
TL;DR: Harvest Hosts members can enjoy unique stays at Justus Orchard, NC, offering u-pick fruits, a bakery, and family-friendly activities, enhancing RV travel with agricultural tourism.
Harvest Hosts is an incredibly unique RV membership program. Through this program, members are granted access to 6000 host locations across North America for overnight accommodations with no camping fees. Members are simply asked to make a small purchase at each of these businesses. Locations include establishments such as farms, wineries, breweries, museums, restaurants, attractions, and more. Justus Orchard is a prime example of one of our awesome hosts. Located in the Southwestern corner of North Carolina, they have been growing fruit on their farm for years. Continue on to learn all about the farm, its history, the business today, and its joining of the Harvest Hosts program.
The History
The Justus family has been growing fruit in their orchards for over 100 years. Pete Justus and his father began growing apples at Justus Orchard in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.The farm continued with Ken Justus who grew apples with his father, Pete, from the 1940s through 1960. Ken and his wife Glenda Justus continued the apple tradition into the 60s and 70s. In the early 1970’s Glenda Justus was one of the first in North Carolina to invite customers to not only buy apples that were already picked but to go into the orchard and pick their own apples. From 1985 through early 2000 came the next generation, when Don Justus started growing apples with his father, Ken. The duo grew apples for many big named companies like “Gerber” and “White House” and had just a few fresh apples to sell in the fruit stand. Ken, Glenda, Don and his wife Margo continued to work together for twenty years.In 2006, Don and Margo Justus took the reins and changed course to no longer sell apples to big named companies and shifted their business to focus on Agritourism. With this came an expansion to the sales area, a bakery, animals to interact with and a play area for kids, including a huge Jumping Pillow. Don and Margo continue to run operations at the orchard. They love what they do, and they love sharing Justus Orchard with others!