Remember going out west of Jackson to the Pioneer Orchard for peaches, apples and apple cider? About all I could find of the orchard today is a street sign at the intersection of Pioneer Orchard Road and Oak Street.
Oh, yeah, I didn’t spot any towering oaks on Oak Street, either.
Big Yellow Taxi
Let’s all sing a verse of Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi:
They took all the trees
Put ’em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see ’em
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Nice song…who wrote it??? Grin…I think we all remember that one…any way “where have all the Flowers gone, long, long time ago!”
The idea of cider does make me miss the area…
I had a cider craving last night after writing this. I guess I’ll have to hit the grocery store today.
Too bad whatever I buy won’t come from Diebold’s or Pioneer.
Oh, the peaches and the little baskets with wooden handles!
At Christmas time we went there for the live fir wreaths and poinsettias.
THIS WAS NEWS TO ME. I DIDN’T KNOW PIONEER WAS NOT THERE ANY LONGER. USED TO GO THERE REGULARLY BUT HAVEN’T FOR AWHILE. I SURE WOULD HAVE BEEN SHOCKED BEYOND BELIEF!
I don’t think you went far enough!! I never go that way but Pioneer Orchard is still going strong. Also there are big trees on Oak, haven’t noticed their type but I will from now on. Are you sure you were in Jackson, Mo???????
Janet,
For proof, go to the next posting that shows a Google Map overview of what used to be the Jackson Pioneer Orchard.
Don’t ask for whom the bulldozer roars….
Diebold’s is gone, Pioneer in Jackson is gone, Northland Orchard (on Cape Rock Drive) is long gone, however…Bill Beggs still operates the old, original Pioneer Orchard in Cape on Silver Springs Road. Bill’s orchard primarily is a peach orchard, and unfortunately he never made cider like Mr Potashnick at Northland.
My brother-in-law lived in a house across from Northland. You’re right, it’s RIP, too.
Keith, Just read your comment on Northland Hills Orchards. R.B. Potashnick was the owner but Mr. Lawrence Fuhrman was the man behind everything that went on there. He was Manager from the early 50s until almost the time that it closed. I worked there in the summers along with other teenagers for several years in the late 50s and early 60s. Norman Allen was his chief field hand. Lawrence and Norman could make the best and strongest cider in the basement of the packing shed. I lived just up the road on Snake Hill at that time. DOES ANYONE HAVE A PICTURE OF THE PACKING SHED?
And where trees don’t belong, they plant them. Here in SW Michigan, where there are scattered small prairies — a broken-up northern remnant of the Prairie Peninsula — developers ruin them by planting houses and trees.
What? Diebold’s isn’t gone. They did sell a lot of their land, but they were still there this summer. During the winter, they always crank it down several notches.
There was another orchard right there on the way to Snake Hill (another lost landmark) that used to have fruit trees and is now another housing development. Only in America do we continue to abandon our old houses and cover our abundant land with new homes while the old homes decay. I miss both orchards. They were a wonderful treat to visit as a child.
I cut my teeth in the working world 70+ years ago at what was then, Henry Ochs orchard on Silver springs road doing “thining” the fruit, driving a small “dozer”pulling a sprayer, and whatever else Henry had for ne and Clyde Wallis to do. Great traing for the job market.
Joe Whitright “45”
We still live at Pioneer Orchard in Cape, still located
on Silver Springs Road and has been for 85+years and my
grandson (Wm. Beggs IV) is the 4th generation to be working on this property. It has changed a lot in those years but we still produce peaches, nectarines, sweet corn and pears. We’ll be looking forward to seeing many of you this coming summer, weather permitting.
Thanks for setting us straight.
Randy Riley here … First Baptist Church in Jackson. When will your peaches be ready to purchase ? Call or text me : (573) 987-8096
Mr. Beggs, My family loved your Orchard. we spent many summer afternoons there buying peaches to can and freeze. They made the best peach preserves.
My mom and 2 brothers still shop there. I now live in FL, and wish I could get those peaches again.
I am a lover of family.
It’s horrible that Pioneer market is closed because i always come up from Iowa and see my cousins.
I love family except for grand parents
I love family except for grandparents.