Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is full of old apple trees, and those trees are full of different kinds of apples.
The only catch is nobody knows exactly which varieties these are anymore.
"So as these trees die, if that is the last tree of that variety in the park, that variety is gone, that's for good," said Matt Mohrman, volunteer coordinator at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. "So we find the apples, ID them and then graft these trees onto rootstock to keep that variety going in the park."
Mohrman says preserving these old heritage apples is key to preserving the park's — and the region's — history, in the same way an old farmhouse or barn might.
On a windy day this fall, a group of volunteers gathered to taste some old apples from South Manitou Island, and see if they could connect the link between the 19th century and today.
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