Kotgarh - An Apple Orchard
Distance : 82km from Shimla
via Narkanda
As you drive into Kotgarh through a sea of apple trees you’ll be
struck by its sheer beauty. This is the spawning ground of the apple
revolution in Himachal.
Every year several lakh cases of apple leave Kotgarh for different
parts of the country. This accounts for the unbroken line of trucks
that ply these roads during harvest time.
The man who started it all was an American called Samuel Evans
Stokes. He made his home atop Barobag Hill and called it Harmony Hall.
Some 1,800m below flows the Sutlej.
 ¤
An Interesting Tale -- The Apple that Started it All
and it has nothing to do with Adam and Eve! Try Samuel Evans Stokes
instead. Stokes landed in India in 1904 at the age of 22. He came with
the intention of helping the poor people of the hill regions. In
trying to convert people to Christianity he himself became a Hindu! He
studied Hindu scriptures religiously and then decided to live as a
sadhu (hermit) in a cave near the village of Kotgarh.
Stokes emerged from his self-imposed exile to marry a Rajput
Christian named Agnes Benjamin. (Later they became Satyanand Stokes
and Priya Devi, of course.) Seeing the poor state of the economy in
Kotgarh, Stokes decided to grow apple trees commercially.
of course nobody believed that he could make a go of it, so in 1919 he
planted trees on his 200 acres. They began bearing fruit in 1925 and
the market immediately went crazy over them. Almost overnight farmers
took to apple cultivation and soon the apple culture spread all over
Shimla hills and beyond. and so, many poor farmers came to be
prosperous orchard owners and lived happily ever after.
¤ Transport
There is a regular bus service between Shimla and Thanedar. For more
information contact the HPTDC office in Shimla.
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