October 19, 2000 - Rememberin the Cider MillGA •The Suffolk Times • October 19, 2000 Wickham's preserves the past
•
Remembering
the Cider Mill
The many pro-
cesses cider
must go through
before you take
a drink of it.
Clockwise from
upper left:
Apples are
washed and
scrubbed, then
ground to a pulp
that falls onto
the filtering blan-
kets, which are
folded over and
made Into layers,
then all pressed
to squeeze the
juice out.
One of the advantages of going
to Southold High School back in
the 1930s and '40s was that the
school bus would drop us off at
the Cider Mill in Cutchogue on
our way home. Every fall we'd
look out the windows of the bus to
see if the big brown blankets were
hanging out to dry on their racks.
That meant they were pressing
apples and there was cider to be
had. In those early years the Cider
Mill was located where the Suffolk
County National Bank now stands
in the King Kullen shopping cen-
Suffolk Times photo by Barbara Stouteriburgh
FOCUS Mr. Bi!lard,
who ran the mill,
ON was always cor-
dial dial and let us
kids dip into the
by Paul frothy brown
Stouteriburgh juice that had just
been pressed
from the apples. With a twinkle in his
eye he would warn us, "Don't drink too
much or you might get a belly ache or
`something else'!" It was that "some-
thing else" that sooner or later caught
up with us if we drank too much of the
We thought little then of what made
the press work. Our main objective was
to get that glass of fresh - pressed cider
that old Mr. Billard always offered us.
The first thing I can remember as we
went into the building was the noise of
machines at work. There were big flat
belts that were charging back and forth
and a conveyor belt carrying apples to
unknown places to be ground into pulp. All this cre-
ated a fearsome noise that added to the memory of
the day.
Of course, if we did get off the bus it would leave
us so we'd have to cut "cross lots" to get home. That
was no problem for we often walked the farms and
knew every trail and hedgerow and farm road. We
were used to walking for we also had to walk over a
mile each day to catch the school bus that ran only
along the Main Road. It was the only route it trav-
eled. Anyone who wanted to take the bus had to
walk to the Main Road to get it.
As progress took over our little hamlet of
Cutchogue, the building that housed the old Cider
Mill was trashed along with the old Billard home-
stead, the black walnut trees and the grape arbors
that made up this unique little section of our town.
Thank goodness John Wickham had the foresight to
see that this unique 1906 cider press should be saved
and put to use once again. Tom Wickham told us: "I
had just sold my Model A in 1962 and gone off to
Southeast Asia when my brother Jack dismantle
every piece of the press and reassembled it down
here in one of our farm buildings. It's big and takes
up a lot of space."
As Barbara and I reminisced recently about the
old Cider Mill, I thought it might be fun to go and
revisit it and see first -hand how cider is still made
right here in Cutchogue. First we'd have to stop at
the stand and check with Tom to see if it would be
okay for us to go back to the farm where the press is
now housed. As we met up with him on a busy day
he said with his usual cordial, big smile: "Of course.
Why don't you go down right now. We're pressing
today."
And so, with that special invitation, we drove the
long driveway down to the farm. When we got there
we saw the truck loaded with crates of all different
kinds of apples backed up to the building that
housed the press. The machinery was rumbling
along, which immediately brought back those
memories of early days.
There were two men working inside the clean,
white - walled building.
One was dumping the
apples into a trough, the
other, with a hose in one
hand and a scrub brush
in the other, was washing
them down. From there
they were dumped onto
a conveyor belt that
took them up above into
the unknown to be
eround into pulp.
sight of these blankets on their racks was a sure sign that
;on had begun.
This pulp then came
collect our glass of cider.) When enough pulp was
down through a bright
spread over the blanket, the edges were folded over
stainless steel chute and
to make the first layer of pulp. A slotted board was
fell onto a brown filter-
laid on that first layer, and then they were ready to
ing blanket. (These are
start the process over again by placing a blanket
the same familiar blan-
down and filling it with pulp, and so on.
kets that lured us as kids
Six or seven layers of ground apples would be built
when we came from
up and each wrapped in its own filtering blanket. It
school into the old cider
would take six or seven bushels of apples to fill each
mill those ears ago to
layer. This, of course, is all done with continual chat-
ter of machinery all about. When all six or seven of
the blankets were filled with ground -up pulp, they
would swing the whole machine around on a sort of
trolley that would position the stack of six or seven
folded blankets of pulp directly under the waiting
press.
Then more mysterious levers would be pushed and
the spiraling gears would start to work down. Finally
the press would touch the stack of piled blankets of
ground apple. Slowly it would start to compress the
entire mass of pulp and you could start to see the
juice running out of the blankets into the trough
below. This stack would probably press about 95 gal-
lons of cider. After the process is complete, the
whole place is washed down and the filtering blan-
kets are hung out on racks in the sun. What a beauti-
ful concept this was way back when it was started
almost 100 years ago, and we have the Wickhams to
thank for keeping'the tradition going.
When the cider filled up the trough around the
base of the press, a pump was started to draw the liq-
uid out and pump it into a cypress -wood tank over-
head, where it would later be gravity -fed into plastic
jugs below. We watched as Tom's nephew Stephen
got a glass and took a little from one faucet and then
another and said: "Oh, yes, you always have to sam-
ple it before you bottle it. And this is especially good
today. The flavor is best when you use a mix of
different apples."
We were given a sample to try and it took me back
over 60 years to the time I stood in the Old Cider
Mill on the Main Road with my friends after school
and drank, probably too much, of that fresh apple
juice Mr. Billard let us sample.
GA •The Suffolk Times • October 19, 2000 Wickham's preserves the past
•
Remembering
=the Cider Mill.,:,..:..,M
3
The many pro-
cesses cider
must go through
before you take
a drink of it.
Clockwise from
upper left:
Apples are
washed and
scrubbed, then
ground to a pulp
that falls onto
the filtering blan-
kets, which are
folded over and
made Into layers,
then all pressed
to squeeze the
juice out.
One of the advantages of going
to Southold High School back in
the 130s and '40s was that the
school bus would drop us off at
the Cider Mill in Cutchogue on
our way home. Every fall we'd
look out the windows of the bus to
see if the big brown blankets were
hanging out to dry on their racks.
That meant they were pressing
apples and there was cider to be
had. In those early years the Cider
Mill was located where the Suffolk
County National Bank now stands
in the King Kullen shopping cen-
Suffolk Times photo by Barbara Stouteriburgh
FOCUS Mr. Bi!lard,
who ran the mill,
ON was always cor-
dial dial and let us
kids dip into the
by Paul frothy brown
Stouteriburgh juice that had just
been pressed
from the apples. With a twinkle in his
eye he would warn us, "Don't drink too
much or you might get a belly ache or
`something else'!" It was that "some-
thing else" that sooner or later caught
up with us if we drank too much of the
We thought little then of what made
the press work. Our main objective was
to get that glass of fresh - pressed cider
that old Mr. Billard always offered us.
The first thing I can remember as we
went into the building was the noise of
machines at work. There were big flat
belts that were charging back and forth
and a conveyor belt carrying apples to
unknown places to be ground into pulp. All this cre-
ated a fearsome noise that added to the memory of
the day.
Of course, if we did get off the bus it would leave
us so we'd have to cut "cross lots" to get home. That
was no problem for we often walked the farms and
knew every trail and hedgerow and farm road. We
were used to walking for we also had to walk over a
mile each day to catch the school bus that ran only
along the Main Road. It was the only route it trav-
eled. Anyone who wanted to take the bus had to
walk to the Main Road to get it.
As progress took over our little hamlet of
Cutchogue, the building that housed the old Cider
Mill was trashed along with the old Billard home-
stead, the black walnut trees and the grape arbors
that made up this unique little section of our town.
Thank goodness John Wickham had the foresight to
see that this unique 1906 cider press should be saved
and put to use once again. Tom Wickham told us: "I
had just sold my Model A in 1962 and gone off to
Southeast Asia when my brother Jack dismantle
every piece of the press and reassembled it down
here in one of our farm buildings. It's big and takes
up a lot of space."
As Barbara and I reminisced recently about the
old Cider Mill, I thought it might be fun to go and
revisit it and see first -hand how cider is still made
right here in Cutchogue. First we'd have to stop at
the stand and check with Tom to see if it would be
okay for us to go back to the farm where the press is
now housed. As we met up with him on a busy day
he said with his usual cordial, big smile: "Of course.
Why don't you go down right now. We're pressing
today."
And so, with that special invitation, we drove the
long driveway down to the farm. When we got there
we saw the truck loaded with crates of all different
kinds of apples backed up to the building that
housed the press. The machinery was rumbling
along, which immediately brought back those
memories of early days.
There were two men working inside the clean,
white - walled building.
One was dumping the
apples into a trough, the
other, with a hose in one
hand and a scrub brush
in the other, was washing
them down. From there
they were dumped onto
a conveyor belt that
took them up above into
the unknown to be
eround into pulp.
sight of these blankets on their racks was a sure sign that
;on had begun.
This pulp then came
collect our glass of cider.) When enough pulp was
down through a bright
spread over the blanket, the edges were folded over
stainless steel chute and
to make the first layer of pulp. A slotted board was
fell onto a brown filter-
laid on that first layer, and then they were ready to
ing blanket. (These are
start the process over again by placing a blanket
the same familiar blan-
down and filling it with pulp, and so on.
kets that lured us as kids
Six or seven layers of ground apples would be built
when we came from
up and each wrapped in its own filtering blanket. It
school into the old cider
would take six or seven bushels of apples to fill each
mill those ears ago to
layer. This, of course, is all done with continual chat-
ter of machinery all about. When all six or seven of
the blankets were filled with ground -up pulp, they
would swing the whole machine around on a sort of
trolley that would position the stack of six or seven
folded blankets of pulp directly under the waiting
press.
Then more mysterious levers would be pushed and
the spiraling gears would start to work down. Finally
the press would touch the stack of piled blankets of
ground apple. Slowly it would start to compress the
entire mass of pulp and you could start to see the
juice running out of the blankets into the trough
below. This stack would probably press about 95 gal-
lons of cider. After the process is complete, the
whole place is washed down and the filtering blan-
kets are hung out on racks in the sun. What a beauti-
ful concept this was way back when it was started
almost 100 years ago, and we have the Wickhams to
thank for keeping'the tradition going.
When the cider filled up the trough around the
base of the press, a pump was started to draw the liq-
uid out and pump it into a cypress -wood tank over-
head, where it would later be gravity -fed into plastic
jugs below. We watched as Tom's nephew Stephen
got a glass and took a little from one faucet and then
another and said: "Oh, yes, you always have to sam-
ple it before you bottle it. And this is especially good
today. The flavor is best when you use a mix of
different apples."
We were given a sample to try and it took me back
over 60 years to the time I stood in the Old Cider
Mill on the Main Road with my friends after school
and drank, probably too much, of that fresh apple
juice Mr. Billard let us sample.
GA •The Suffolk Times • October 19, 2000 Wickham's preserves the past
•
Remembering
=the Cider Mill.,:,..:..,M
3
The many pro-
cesses cider
must go through
before you take
a drink of it.
Clockwise from
upper left:
Apples are
washed and
scrubbed, then
ground to a pulp
that falls onto
the filtering blan-
kets, which are
folded over and
made Into layers,
then all pressed
to squeeze the
juice out.
One of the advantages of going
to Southold High School back in
the 130s and '40s was that the
school bus would drop us off at
the Cider Mill in Cutchogue on
our way home. Every fall we'd
look out the windows of the bus to
see if the big brown blankets were
hanging out to dry on their racks.
That meant they were pressing
apples and there was cider to be
had. In those early years the Cider
Mill was located where the Suffolk
County National Bank now stands
in the King Kullen shopping cen-
Suffolk Times photo by Barbara Stouteriburgh
FOCUS Mr. Bi!lard,
who ran the mill,
ON was always cor-
dial dial and let us
kids dip into the
by Paul frothy brown
Stouteriburgh juice that had just
been pressed
from the apples. With a twinkle in his
eye he would warn us, "Don't drink too
much or you might get a belly ache or
`something else'!" It was that "some-
thing else" that sooner or later caught
up with us if we drank too much of the
We thought little then of what made
the press work. Our main objective was
to get that glass of fresh - pressed cider
that old Mr. Billard always offered us.
The first thing I can remember as we
went into the building was the noise of
machines at work. There were big flat
belts that were charging back and forth
and a conveyor belt carrying apples to
unknown places to be ground into pulp. All this cre-
ated a fearsome noise that added to the memory of
the day.
Of course, if we did get off the bus it would leave
us so we'd have to cut "cross lots" to get home. That
was no problem for we often walked the farms and
knew every trail and hedgerow and farm road. We
were used to walking for we also had to walk over a
mile each day to catch the school bus that ran only
along the Main Road. It was the only route it trav-
eled. Anyone who wanted to take the bus had to
walk to the Main Road to get it.
As progress took over our little hamlet of
Cutchogue, the building that housed the old Cider
Mill was trashed along with the old Billard home-
stead, the black walnut trees and the grape arbors
that made up this unique little section of our town.
Thank goodness John Wickham had the foresight to
see that this unique 1906 cider press should be saved
and put to use once again. Tom Wickham told us: "I
had just sold my Model A in 1962 and gone off to
Southeast Asia when my brother Jack dismantle
every piece of the press and reassembled it down
here in one of our farm buildings. It's big and takes
up a lot of space."
As Barbara and I reminisced recently about the
old Cider Mill, I thought it might be fun to go and
revisit it and see first -hand how cider is still made
right here in Cutchogue. First we'd have to stop at
the stand and check with Tom to see if it would be
okay for us to go back to the farm where the press is
now housed. As we met up with him on a busy day
he said with his usual cordial, big smile: "Of course.
Why don't you go down right now. We're pressing
today."
And so, with that special invitation, we drove the
long driveway down to the farm. When we got there
we saw the truck loaded with crates of all different
kinds of apples backed up to the building that
housed the press. The machinery was rumbling
along, which immediately brought back those
memories of early days.
There were two men working inside the clean,
white - walled building.
One was dumping the
apples into a trough, the
other, with a hose in one
hand and a scrub brush
in the other, was washing
them down. From there
they were dumped onto
a conveyor belt that
took them up above into
the unknown to be
eround into pulp.
sight of these blankets on their racks was a sure sign that
;on had begun.
This pulp then came
collect our glass of cider.) When enough pulp was
down through a bright
spread over the blanket, the edges were folded over
stainless steel chute and
to make the first layer of pulp. A slotted board was
fell onto a brown filter-
laid on that first layer, and then they were ready to
ing blanket. (These are
start the process over again by placing a blanket
the same familiar blan-
down and filling it with pulp, and so on.
kets that lured us as kids
Six or seven layers of ground apples would be built
when we came from
up and each wrapped in its own filtering blanket. It
school into the old cider
would take six or seven bushels of apples to fill each
mill those ears ago to
layer. This, of course, is all done with continual chat-
ter of machinery all about. When all six or seven of
the blankets were filled with ground -up pulp, they
would swing the whole machine around on a sort of
trolley that would position the stack of six or seven
folded blankets of pulp directly under the waiting
press.
Then more mysterious levers would be pushed and
the spiraling gears would start to work down. Finally
the press would touch the stack of piled blankets of
ground apple. Slowly it would start to compress the
entire mass of pulp and you could start to see the
juice running out of the blankets into the trough
below. This stack would probably press about 95 gal-
lons of cider. After the process is complete, the
whole place is washed down and the filtering blan-
kets are hung out on racks in the sun. What a beauti-
ful concept this was way back when it was started
almost 100 years ago, and we have the Wickhams to
thank for keeping'the tradition going.
When the cider filled up the trough around the
base of the press, a pump was started to draw the liq-
uid out and pump it into a cypress -wood tank over-
head, where it would later be gravity -fed into plastic
jugs below. We watched as Tom's nephew Stephen
got a glass and took a little from one faucet and then
another and said: "Oh, yes, you always have to sam-
ple it before you bottle it. And this is especially good
today. The flavor is best when you use a mix of
different apples."
We were given a sample to try and it took me back
over 60 years to the time I stood in the Old Cider
Mill on the Main Road with my friends after school
and drank, probably too much, of that fresh apple
juice Mr. Billard let us sample.