We started with the apple orchards, adding pears, peaches, nectarines and cherries during the 1970’s and 80’s. We have added to the farm by purchasing and leasing additional blocks of acreage and our total acreage now stands at 140. The orchard began as only a part-time business run by our father during the evenings and on weekends when he returned home from teaching school. Three retirees (Paxton Harbaugh, Harry Frey, and Bob Dagenhart) and a continual procession of high school boys trying to make enough money to keep their cars running were our orchard labor force.

In the mid 1960’s we started using large wooden bins holding about 850 pounds of fruit and hydraulic lifts to move and stack them. This was a godsend. For the first ten years of the orchard we used one bushel wooden boxes called field crates to handle the fruit. These were loaded and stacked by hand on wagons and trucks. These were not the "good old days", as each box of fruit weighed over 60 pounds and we handled several hundred each day.

In 1973, I, Henry Allenberg returned to the orchard after graduating from the University of Maryland. After working in the soil chemistry laboratory at the university for a year, I decided that laboratory life in a large bureaucracy was not what I wanted to do and headed back to our family farm. In 1977, my father Bill retired from teaching and joined myself and my brother Fred working full time at the orchard. We started planting peach orchards in the mid 1970’s and our father repeatedly mentioned that he had joined the army in 1941 after high school because he hated his summer job thinning peaches. " He kept threatening to run away and join the army again, although he never got around to it."

In 1983 my father Bill, my brother Fred and I formed a partnership called Mountain Spring Orchards. Over the next ten years equity in the partnership was transferred to Fred and I during which time our dad finally retired. Although, he never retired from telling us how we should do things! He passed away in his sleep in 1997 after a long fight with Parkinson’s disease. We owe our Dad a lot and we miss him a lot more.

The orchard has grown considerably over the years. We produced about 6,000 bushels of apples in the 1950’s. We now grow up to 60,000 bushels each year. We have three year round employees (Frank Ocasio, Genaro "Santos" Ibarra, and Ignacio Gonzales) who have been with us for more than 15 years. We add eight more to our labor force during the peak harvest which occurs in apple season. We also have seasonal apple pickers who have been returning here since 1983. Maxine Bowman has been running the fruit stand since 1989.

About two years ago we decided to change the name of our operation to Allenberg Orchards to reflect our family name. Our parents, Ann and Bill, spent a lifetime building up this farm and we like seeing their name on the sign at the end of our lane. Nothing else has changed. The orchard is still owned by my brother Fred Allenberg and myself, Henry Allenberg. We still have the same employees, the same friendly service, and the same quality fruit you’ve always received here.

Take I-70 to Exit 35. Exit and turn north on Mapleville Rd. (R. 66) towards Smithsburg. Go 4 miles to the first traffic light and turn right on Rt. 64. Go 1.6 miles on Rt. 64 and turn right on Rt. 491. Go 0.3 miles on Rt. 491 and turn right at the sign for Allenberg Orchards. The Fruit Stand is 800 feet up the lane.

From Hagerstown:

Take Jefferson Blvd. (Rt. 64) east to Smithsburg. Go straight through the stoplights at Cavetown (Rt. 66) and Smithsburg (Rt. 77). Take the next right on Rt. 491, which is 0.4 miles after the second stoplight. Go 0.3 miles on Rt. 491 and turn right at the sign for Allenberg Orchards. The Fruit Stand is 800 feet up the lane.

From Waynesboro:

Take Clayton Avenue south from Rt. 16. Turn left on Rt. 997 South. Rt. 997 becomes Rt. 64 when you cross into Maryland. Go straight on Rt. 64 at the 4-way stop. Turn left on Rt. 491 immediately after you cross the bridge over the railroad. Go 0.3 miles on Rt. 491 and turn right at the sign for Allenberg Orchards. The Fruit Stand is 800 feet up the lane.