Autumn is settling in, and what comes to mind?

[Anne Marie, Visitor]:
"Apples, pumpkins, harvest... definitely!"

Yes, it's apple harvest season ...  Honeycrisp… McIntosh… Ginger Gold…

[Claire Kepner, Resident]:
"Gala are super, and I like them all."

Three varieties or more are a good mix for apple cider. In Fly Creek, upstate New York, cider is produced the old fashioned way.

[Bill Michaels, Owner, Fly Creek Cider Mill]:
"Our cider is made the traditional rag and cloth method, which you saw. We feel that it's a little bit slower pressed because of the time it takes to make it; therefore, we are not extruding the juice so fast that other things come through with it. We feel that our cider is a lot clearer, and it has a little bit more of a clean taste because it is so clear and pure."

The facility is 153 years old. Bill's parents bought the mill in 1962, and Bill together with his wife have run the place since 1999.

[Bill Michaels, Owner, Fly Creek Cider Mill]:
"We expanded the components of what we have to offer including our specialty food, a lot of our pride of New York foods, as well as our traditional cider and apples."

First the apples are being washed.

[Jack Stanton, Facility Manager, Fly Creek Cider Mill]:
"In the earlier years the main reason for the cider mill was to press other people's apples; all the local farmers, townspeople, they'd all have a few apple trees and they would come to have their cider pressed."

Then it goes through grinding.

[Jack Stanton, Facility Manager, Fly Creek Cider Mill]:
"We try to press at least three different varieties each day, and most of the time as the season goes on, we can get six, seven different varieties of apples in a day of pressing."

Eight buckets of ground apples for eight stacks of rags.

[Jack Stanton, Facility Manager, Fly Creek Cider Mill]:
"The more apples you get into a day of pressing, the richer the cider is going to be."

Besides the fresh juice, visitors come here for the fun and history of the place.

[Harry Masters, Visitor]:
"Well first thing I did of course was go to the apple, where they press the apples and make the cider, that's a great thing to see."

The cider mill is also a traditional autumn family destination for the surrounding residents.

[Bill Michaels, Owner, Fly Creek Cider Mill]:
"We get about 150,000 visitors on an annual basis."

[Anne Marie, Visitor]:
"I just tasted this and this was the best cider I've ever tried. I just came out and I was like 'yahoo that's good'."

[Harry Masters, Visitor]:
"I am just so happy I came here, this is a great place.  It's just fun."

NTD, Fly Creek, New York.