• instagram
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • about
  • |
  • participate
  • |
  • Contact
  • |
Menu
Search
  • Eat
    • Local Eatery Articles
    • Farms + Markets
    • Restaurants + Cafes
    • Wine + Spirits
  • Play
    • Summer Fun Articles
    • Outdoors
    • Art + Entertainment
  • Stay
    • Eat/Stay/Play Articles
    • Bed and Breakfasts
    • Hotels + Motels
  • Live
    • Home Articles
    • Home + Garden
    • Services
    • Shopping Locally
    • Wellness
  • Business Profiles
  • Events
  • Towns
  • Magazine
Close Menu

Stone Ridge Orchard

Our Farms

by Anne Pyburn Craig

June 02, 2021

If you were looking for a two-word description of a perfect Rondout Valley Saturday destination, the words “farm bar” might well catch your eye. Add “serves pizza,” “cider on tap,” and “dogs welcome,” and you begin to understand what makes Stone Ridge Orchard a hit with visitors and locals alike.

While you’re enjoying the wood-fired pizza and refreshing cider, not to mention the delicious offerings at the farm stand and the beauty of the surroundings, take a moment to acknowledge how close we came to losing this 114-acre treasure to development pressure. Thankfully, it’s a destination and a living monument to the tenacity of its owner, Elizabeth Ryan, granddaughter of a farm family who now operates a family of farms.

The Stone Ridge tasting room, farm market, and u-pick operations welcome guests to a very genuine working farm experience, seasoned with intelligent fun, a wide variety of fruits, and ecstatically good apple cider donuts.

Special events held under a spreading centuries-old oak include tastings and specialty markets, along with weddings and milestone celebrations.

Elizabeth’s passion for agriculture led her first to the ag program and then to major in pomology, the science of growing fruit, at Cornell. It was there that she made her first barrel of cider in 1980, going on to study the craft in England. In 1984, she purchased Dutchess County’s historic Breezy Hill Orchard. She has, over the years, been a co-founder of the GrowNYC Greenmarket program, a Smithsonian fellow, and the recipient of the Cornucopia Award from the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. She helped foster the hard cider boom that’s now an integral part of New York’s craft beverage renaissance as an industry advocate and keynote speaker at the Governor’s Alcohol Summit.

And in 2008, Elizabeth took over management of the 200-year-old Stone Ridge Orchard, mplementing her ecological growing principles and fighting to keep the farm established enough to fend off the prime location’s development. In 2014 she succeeded in buying the farm after four years of negotiations, and it’s now—along with Breezy Hill—a source of the top-notch apples and pears that create Hudson Valley Farmhouse Cider. She’s still one of a short list of women cidermakers, tapped by Williams Sonoma to create home cider, mead, wine, and sparkling wine for their agrarian line.

“You can come out and sit by the fire pit, feast on pizza from the wood-fired oven along with other special treats, and kick back with live music.” –Sage Newkirk, Marketing Director

And she’s still having an absolute blast. The Stone Ridge tasting room, farm market, and u-pick operations welcome guests to a very genuine working farm experience, seasoned with intelligent fun, a wide variety of fruits, and ecstatically good apple cider donuts.

The Farm Bar is one-of-a-kind. “We’ve got cider on tap and in bottles and a host of other New York State beverages, too,” says Sage Newkirk, the farm’s new marketing and social media director. “You can come out and sit by the fire pit, feast on pizza from the wood-fired oven along with other special treats, and kick back with live music.”

Special events held under a spreading centuries-old oak include tastings and specialty markets, along with weddings and milestone celebrations. Themed makers markets this past spring included “FINDINGS: Rare Plants and Garden Antiquities” and a Mother’s Day weekend Women in Food & Farming Festival. This summer, the farm will host The Comedy Orchard, followed in June and September by Cider, Blues & BBQ, Amythyst Kiah in July, and Applepalooza—leading up to the start of u-pick season and Pooches & Pumpkins— in October.

But don’t wait until the apples are blushing on the trees. Stop by for splendid produce and a farm bar evening and become part of the Stone Ridge Orchard community. “Elizabeth is a live wire, a constant source of inspiration,” says Sage. “There’s always something new and fun going on—we just added a little family of alpacas.”

stone ridge orchard
3012 Route 213, Stone Ridge
845-687-2587
stoneridgeorchard.com

RELATED ARTICLES

BOP TO TOTTOM, KINGSTON

MEET THE OWNERS: 1850 HOUSE INN AND TAVERN

LOCAL EATERY SPOTLIGHT BAJA 328

Profile: John Krenek & Jamie Niblock

Manage this home

Mountain Valley Manor

Profile: Marty Molitoris

TERRAPIN

WHOLE SKY YOGA

Meet the Owner: twilight acres’ homegrown

RECEIVE EPOSTS

WHATS HAPPENING

ADD YOUR BUSINESS

SEE WEDDING SITE

  • Emerson Resort & Spa, Mt. Tremp...

    Mt. Tremper, 845-688-2828
    www.emersonresort.com

  • Ole Savannah Southern Table and...

    Kingston, (845) 331-4283
    www.olesavannah.com/

  • The Art Effect

    Poughkeepsie
    feelthearteffect.org/

  • Rhinebeck Artists Shop

    Rhinebeck, New Paltz, Kingston
    www.rhinebeckartistsshop.com...

  • Dutchess County Fairgrounds

    Rhinebeck, 845-876-4000
    www.dutchessfair.com/

  • Blue Mountain Guest House

    Saugerties, 3233138426
    www.vrbo.com/560528

  • Shawangunk Wine Trail

    Marlboro, 845-256-8456
    www.shawangunkwinetrail.com

  • Colony Woodstock

    Woodstock, 845-679-7625
    www.colonywoodstock.com

  • Saunderskill Farm


    www.saunderskill.com/

  • Halter Associates Realty

    Kingston & Woodstock
    www.halterassociatesrealty.c...

  • Habitat Real Estate Group

    Stone Ridge , 8456877954
    www.habitatrealestategroup.c...

  • Buzzanco's Greenhouses & Farm

    Kingston, (845) 336-6528
    www.buzzancogreenhouses.com/

  • Jugo Mobile Beverage Company

    New Paltz, 347-228-7283
    www.jugomobilebeveragecompan...

  • Wayward Ranch Animal Sanctuary

    Kerhonkson, (845)-626-7645
    www.waywardranch.org/

FAQ

ADD EVENT

ADD BUSINESS

  • instagram
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
CONTACT

CALL: 845-687-3470
EMAIL: VISITVORTEX@GMAIL.COM

VISITVORTEX
PO BOX 82
HIGH FALLS, NY 12440
SIGN UP

SIGN UP FOR EPOSTS OF EVENTS,
THINGS TO DO AND SEE NEW
HUDSON VALLEY VIDEOS!

SEE OUR WEDDING SITE


© VISITVORTEX.COM 2022.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS