Fritz Gusmer’s mother gave him a cider press. That gift is how Windy Hill Orchard & Cidery got started. Fritz and his wife, Catherine, moved to South Carolina in the late 1970s and began pressing cider as a family activity. The apples, cider, and doughnuts grew from there into an orchard.
Today it’s a family-owned orchard and cider mill in York, South Carolina, and it calls itself York County’s original agritourism destination. Their son Matthew carries on the family business. In the fall you can pick your own apples (registration is required), buy pre-picked ones at the farm stand, or take a farm tour. They press fresh cider, bake apple pies, and fry cider donuts, which they call their must-try fall treat. Windy Hill is also a bonded winery with a Cider Bar for glasses of hard cider. A 2016 Axios Charlotte piece called its Hoppin' Johnny “the first commercially produced dry-hopped hard cider ever made on the East Coast.”
1860 Black Hwy, York, SC 29745