What Kind of a Name is Soons?

					Home Come Visit Order Soons Apples What kind of a name is Soons?

			William Soons, circa 1920 A brief timeline for Soons Orchards... 1910 William Soons founds Orchard Hill Farm. The Soons Orchards name was adopted later in the ‘50s. 1922 Sinclair and Helen marry 1930s Sinclair Soons takes over farm operations. 1939 First tractor purchased 1945 Last team of horses purchased 1959 Art and Sandy Soons marry and begin buying the farm in 1962 (They finish paying it off in 1976.) 1963 Cider mill is built 1968 Salesroom addition is built 1987 Scotty’s Country Kitchen founded by Laura Soons and Scott Thornton. 1998 UV (Ultraviolet) treatment technology adopted for cider 2000 U-Pick orchard opens for first season 1999 New peach orchard comes online; first Soons peaches in 30+ years. 2000 Soons joins the world wide web; prints the first “Apple Press” newsletter 2002 Soons perfects apple cider donuts 2004 Soons “documentary” debuts 2006 Soons first-ever nectarines 2007 Scotty’s Country Kitchen celebrates 20 years; Grandma's Kitchen debuts for fall weekends 2008 First Blossom Bash weekend 2009 First ever U-Pick peaches (it was a big crop!!) Our first ever dinner on the farm 2010... It's our 100 year anniversary - get ready for a party! Barn building in 1938 (the original barn burned). We still have this barn today.		What kind of a name is Soons?
					A brief history of Soons Orchards
					A brief history of Soons Orchards
					Around 1910, William Soons, an electrical engineer living and working in New York City, decided to move north and try his hand at dairy farming. Always being a student of horticulture from his youth in England, William was soon planting trees everywhere - hardwoods, plus apple, pear and peach trees. And Orchard Hill Farm was born. One of his sons, Sinclair, (1896-1984) became the next farming Soons, as he expanded wholesale apple sales and the dairy. Sinclair married Helen (1902-1996), also a New York City transplant, a school teacher who grew up in a family store setting. Their youngest of four, Arthur, completed college at Princeton University and army service before settling down with Sandra, a Nebraska native and Vassar graduate. Since 1959, Art and Sandy (pictured below, circa 1960) have worked to make Soons what it is today, along the way re-named to Soons Orchards (easier sign-making was the motivation!) The entrepreneurial spirit continues as eldest son Jeffrey, also an attorney, takes over orchard and farm operations. Daughter Laura, and husband Scott, founded Scotty's Country Kitchen in 1987 and continue to hone their mouth-watering recipes. The youngest, Sharon, spent 10 years in the NYC non-profit world before rejoining the family business and starting her own, Streamline U., offering professional organizing and home staging services throughout the Hudson Valley. We Soonses are a Ford Family - can you tell? (1975) The future holds continued challenge as we expand our selection of fruit for sale, manage our U-Pick operations, and offer new items like fall weekend food service, freshly prepared foods, cut flowers, homemade fudge, along with new events like dinners at the farm, Blossom Bash, Founders Weekend and others. So what kind of a name is Soons... truthfully, we're not totally sure. Art's family originated from England and Ireland, but we think there are some Dutch decendents before that which may've started the name. The original Orchard Hill Farm apple barn; we've since added on a bit!