The CW-11 Morning Show’s Larry Huff visited Masker Orchards broadcasting Live on the first day of autumn. Photo source: www.maskers.com/the-cw-11-news/
After a devastating spring freeze, regional media point fall visitors toward Warwick — and one century-old orchard in particular
By Kat Leslie
WARWICK, N.Y. — As New York City residents begin their annual search for fall foliage, cider doughnuts and an escape from concrete, at least two regional publications are pointing them in the same direction:
Warwick.
And, more specifically, Masker Orchards.
Two recent articles have highlighted the century-old Warwick orchard just as the Hudson Valley begins an unusually challenging 2026 apple-picking season following April’s damaging freeze.
On Aug. 30, Mid Hudson News reported on Hudson Valley orchards beginning their U-pick seasons “against all odds” following a spring freeze that caused widespread damage to apples and other fruit crops.
One day later, Secret NYC, a publication devoted to finding experiences and destinations for New York City residents, put Masker squarely on its fall radar, highlighting the orchard’s unusual drive-to-the-trees picking experience, 200-plus acres and proximity to the city.
The Secret NYC headline essentially makes the pitch itself: a historic apple orchard, operating for more than a century and roughly an hour from New York City, where visitors can drive their cars directly among the apple trees.
For Warwick residents, none of this is particularly secret.
For city residents deciding where to spend a September or October weekend, however, Warwick’s combination of working farms, scenery and proximity to the metropolitan area is increasingly difficult to overlook.
About 55 Miles — and a World Away
Masker Orchards is approximately 55 miles from Manhattan. The orchard’s own directions describe it as about an hour from the George Washington Bridge, with routes into Warwick from New York City, Long Island and northern New Jersey.
That puts an actual working Hudson Valley orchard within realistic day-trip distance of millions of metropolitan-area residents.
Secret NYC seized on precisely that contrast.
Its Aug. 31 feature describes Masker as an autumn escape where city visitors can load the car with family, friends, picnic supplies and plenty of room for apples, then drive directly into the orchard rather than park in a remote lot and haul everything to the trees.
That drive-in arrangement is one of Masker’s defining characteristics.
Across more than 200 acres, customers drive through the orchard and park near the varieties they want to pick. For families with young children, seniors, picnic supplies or simply a half-bushel of apples that becomes considerably heavier on the walk back, the advantage is obvious.
The orchard’s current directions specifically market Masker to visitors throughout the New York metropolitan area, while its group information emphasizes the ability to park and picnic near the trees rather than carry equipment long distances.
In other words, visitors aren’t merely looking at a farm from behind a fence.
They are spending the day in it.
A Tradition Born Before “Agritourism” Had a Name
The attraction didn’t begin as a carefully designed tourism concept.
According to Masker’s history, Ora J. Masker and his wife, Rena, purchased nearly 200 acres of Warwick farmland in 1913. Masker developed the property as a commercial apple operation and eventually tended more than 20,000 trees.
After commercial picking crews finished the harvest, Masker allowed local residents to gather apples left behind.
People came.
Then more people came.
Eventually, picking the apples yourself became the business.
By the early 1970s, Masker had transitioned into a dedicated pick-your-own operation.
More than a century after Ora Masker began farming the property, metropolitan publications are now presenting essentially that same simple proposition to another generation:
Get out of the city.
Go into an orchard.
Pick an apple.
This Year, That Apple Means a Little More
The timing of the attention is significant because 2026 has been anything but an ordinary growing season.
Mid Hudson News reported Aug. 30 that an unusually warm period accelerated fruit development before freezing temperatures struck delicate blossoms that would have become apples, peaches, pears and cherries.
Losses were substantial throughout portions of Orange and Ulster counties and elsewhere in the Northeast.
Masker was not spared.
“This is going to be a very different season,” Masker farmer Dan Olsen told Mid Hudson News.
“While we do have a beautiful crop of apples, planning your trip early is the best bet to ensure you’ll be able to find exactly what you are looking for. Harvest volumes are down everywhere but we have worked hard to be sure we have a crop for our customers to enjoy.”
That warning is worth emphasizing for visitors accustomed to assuming that every variety will remain plentiful throughout the fall.
This year, come early and check before you come.
The freeze has already dramatically altered plans at farms throughout the region. Apple Ridge in Warwick lost its pick-your-own peach crop, Ochs Orchard has warned of thin fruit, and other Hudson Valley and northern New Jersey orchards have announced reduced or abbreviated picking seasons. A current regional apple-picking guide similarly advises visitors to check farm conditions because of spring freeze damage.
Yet Masker is opening.
Its 113th harvest season begins Saturday, Sept. 5, with the orchard scheduled to operate seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. into early November.
No reservation is necessary.
Why Masker Keeps Emerging in the Conversation
The Warwick Valley Dispatch recently compared 2026 apple-picking options and found something interesting.
The advertised price of an apple bag doesn’t necessarily tell a family what apple picking will actually cost.
Some orchards charge admission by the person. Others add weekend charges, reservations or activity packages. Some have evolved into elaborate fall entertainment destinations where apple picking is only one part of a much larger attraction.
Masker’s arrangement remains comparatively simple.
For 2026, orchard entry is $49.95 per car, including a half-bushel bag holding approximately 22 pounds of apples. Entry to the Family Fun Area and Country Store is free. Secret NYC also highlighted the fact that customers can eat apples while picking.
That per-car model becomes particularly relevant for the New York City family loading four or five people into a vehicle for the trip north.
The car goes into the orchard.
The people go with it.
The picnic goes with them.
And the apples come home in it.
There is no need to turn a simple apple-picking trip into an exercise in ticket mathematics.
That doesn’t make Masker the right destination for everyone.
Warwick has increasingly diverse fall attractions. Visitors seeking scheduled concerts, restaurants, craft beverages and a more entertainment-oriented outing can find those experiences elsewhere around town.
But for visitors whose primary objective is still apple picking, Masker’s old-fashioned identity may be precisely what distinguishes it.
It is less autumn carnival than working orchard temporarily opened to the public for harvest.
And perhaps that is why a publication aimed squarely at New Yorkers noticed it.
Apples — and the View
There is another part of the experience that is difficult to put on a price sheet.
Warwick Valley in September and October can make a persuasive argument for itself.
Masker’s own description emphasizes the views across the valley and the changing fall foliage surrounding the orchard. Secret NYC similarly presents the trip as a chance for city residents to trade the urban landscape for more than 200 acres of fruit trees and countryside.
There are wagon rides, barnyard animals, cider, barbecue, pies and, inevitably, cider doughnuts.
But the principal attraction remains remarkably unchanged.
Trees.
Apples.
Grass.
Mountains in the distance.
A picnic under the branches.
For somebody arriving from Manhattan, that may be entertainment enough.
Secret NYC also points out another distinction that will matter to some city visitors: dogs are welcome, provided they are leashed and owners follow the orchard’s pet rules. Masker’s own visitor information confirms the pet-friendly policy.
And for customers searching for a particular variety, Masker uses an unusually appropriate piece of technology for a drive-in orchard: visitors can tune the car radio to FM 87.9 for current picking information while on the farm.
From Manhattan to Warwick
The Secret NYC article estimates Masker at roughly 55 miles northwest of Manhattan and gives metropolitan readers driving directions into Warwick.
Masker’s own directions put the orchard about an hour from the George Washington Bridge.
That proximity is important not only to Masker.
It is important to Warwick.
A family that comes north to pick apples may also have lunch in the Village, walk Main Street, stop for coffee, visit another farm, buy local products or discover a community they previously knew only as a name on a map.
Apple season has always been agricultural.
Increasingly, it is also one of Warwick’s most powerful introductions to the outside world.
This year, after a freeze that threatened the harvest before summer had even begun, every visitor takes on a little additional significance for the farms that managed to produce a crop.
Olsen made that point directly in his comments to Mid Hudson News.
“Please consider coming out and supporting your local orchard this Fall — after the year we have had, we hope that when you get here, the first bite tastes a little sweeter.”
For New Yorkers contemplating an autumn escape, two recent outside publications have now delivered essentially the same message.
The Hudson Valley is picking apples again.
Warwick is open for fall.
And somewhere about 55 miles from Manhattan, there is a 200-acre orchard where you can drive beneath the trees, park the car, open the doors and spend an afternoon doing something New Yorkers rarely get to do:
Pick the scenery — and then absorb and even eat some of it.
