Apple Flights take off at Glensheen

The apples used for ‘Apple Flights’ at Glensheen on Sept. 30, 2018. This is the first time Glensheen has done this event, but they are sure they will continue it in the future. Photo by Zack Benz

“Apple Flights,” also known as apple tastings, were offered to visitors touring Glensheen from Sept. 28 to 30 for the price of $5.

“That’s a donation that goes toward restoration for the museum,” Hannah Intveld, a UMD student who was selling these apples on Sept. 30, said.

Flights of apples

UMD student selling apples at Glensheen, Hannah Intveld, on Sept. 30, 2018. Photo by Zack Benz

Any visitor touring the mansion from 10 a.m. through 5:30 p.m. that weekend had the opportunity to buy a slice of four different apples at the end of their tour.

However, visitors touring on Saturday, the busiest day of the weekend, were able to get their apples a different way, according to Intveld.

“It was a busy day,” Intveld said. “We had a lot of sales…because there was an apple press there on Saturday. We were making our own apple cider.”

One of the visitors buying a flight of apples on Sunday, Sept. 30, was Melissa Paasch.

Glensheen visitor Melissa Paasch eating a flight of apples at the end of her tour on Sept. 30, 2018. Paasch is from Apple Valley, Minnesota, and Honeycrisp apples are her favorite. Photo by Zack Benz

Paasch came up to Duluth for a small trip from Apple Valley, Minnesota, and her friends recommended Glensheen, “which is super awesome.”   

“It was a really good tour,” Paasch said. “I would come back. The honeycrisp is my favorite.”

This was the first year the museum has done this, but due to its success, Intveld is sure they are going to keep doing it in the future.

The apples came from the grocery store, according to Intveld, but the reason for the event came from the past.

Celebrating Glensheen’s past

The reason Glensheen offered this fall food was to celebrate the man, Chester Congdon, who built the mansion himself between 1905 and 1908, according to Intveld.

“We have Honeycrisp, which was invented at the [University of Minnesota Twin Cities], and we have three of [Congdon’s] favorite apples: Red Delicious, Granny Smith, and Gala,” Intveld said.

The painting of Chester Congdon hanging in the library of Glensheen Mansion. There are over 2,000 pieces of art in Glensheen’s collection, according to tour guide Jack Harrington. Photo by Zack Benz

Congdon was very passionate about apples, Intveld explained. He had an orchard across the street from Glensheen on London Road and an orchard in Yakima Valley, Washington. Although the orchard across the street from the mansion is no longer there, the one in Washington continues operating today.

According to Glensheen’s website, Congdon’s diaries had entries about apple trees, and he was also interested in regional fruit and made sure to pay attention to them on his travels.

“He travelled to every continent, apart from Antarctica, in search of the different irrigation systems orchards used, because he was really huge into apples,” Intveld continued.

According to Jack Harrington, a tour guide at Glensheen, “at the time of his death [in 1916], Chester was the richest man in Minnesota.”

Glensheen has more fall events coming up in October 2018. More information about them can be found on their events calendar.