The apples were grown in local (Belleville, IL) orchard Eckert's which claims to be the largest pick-your-own operation in U.S. The American Apple Story started with the fruit's arrival to New England in 1623, was shadowed by the "Year of No Sun" (1816), chopped out with axes during the Prohibition era, and enjoys it's own renaissance today – with hard apple cider in our living room on Super Bowl Sunday.