Rise of a Fall Phenomenon: Case Study of Apple Agritourism

摘要

The aim of this thesis, which also includes an exhibit, is to argue that agritourism revitalized the declining apple business in Georgia's apple capital of Gilmer County. The eightpanel exhibit provides an overall scope of Georgia's apple history and its major themes and premiered at the 45th annual Georgia Apple Festival in October 2016. The sources analyzed for both essay and exhibit are newspapers, journals, and most significantly, oral interviews recorded with Gilmer's apple orchard owners. By examining the histories of the various Georgia apple businesses, I argue that agritourism proved to be a dominant method of income for apple houses due to a capitalization on farm nostalgia.;In the 1970s, a new method of crop preservation known as controlled atmospheric storage (CA) harmed many of Georgia's apple businesses and orchards were forced to employ alternative methods of profit in order to combat possible extinction. I argue that agritourism was the most successful of these methods. Hillcrest Orchards introduced this idea of agritourism and was successful to the degree that the majority of Gilmer County's apple houses now employ agritourism as a major source of income. In addition, I conclude that the primary reason for the various apple houses' success with agritourism is due to activities that invoke feelings of nostalgia about farm life.