Apple butter to be made at Gnadenhutten

Apple butter, apple butter making and food made with apple butter will take center stage at this year’s Apple Butter Days Festival at the Gnadenhutten Historical Museum and Park on Saturday, Oct. 14.

The concession stand will serve breakfast, lunch and dessert this year. Buckwheat pancakes or apple butter pancakes and sliced ham will be served from 8-10 a.m. for $7, and lunch will be served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for $7 for a bowl of chili, cornbread and bag of corn chips. Dessert will be available anytime during the day and will include apple butter muffins, apple butter bars, apple butter pie and apple pie.

The apple butter, made onsite, will be available for sale to support the Gnadenhutten Historical Museum. The apple butter is made by the Levi and Anna Zook family of Bristolville in Trumbull County.

Helping in the process will be Anna Zook’s brother Sam Shrock of Millersburg, who has done much research on a Native American ancestor of the Shrock family known as Indian Salli.

Indian Salli was born in the late-1700s and reportedly was given to an Amish family in exchange for the tragic killings of an innocent family by another group of Native Americans.

Prep work will start on Friday evening, and the cooking of the apple butter will start Saturday at 6 a.m.

A copper pot is used, and it must be stirred continually to keep it from burning. From start to finish, the process takes about 12 hours. Their goal is to make 150 pints of apple butter this year.

The finished apple butter will be available for sale at the historical museum during open hours or at the square during the Gnadenhutten homecoming event.

In his first year as president of the Gnadenhutten Historical Society, which operates the museum and organizes events, Andy McMillen is looking forward to the festival. McMillen also is a history teacher at Indian Valley High School.

“There will be some vendors, and food will be available,” McMillen said. “And there will be a community church service.”

Three local churches in the community will work together to provide the Sunday service at 10:30 a.m. at the museum church, and a soup and sandwich luncheon afterward will be available for a freewill donation. Proceeds will be given to a local family in need.

A number of reenactor camps are expected to be set up on the grounds for the event.

McMillen hopes to be able to add more to the celebration in the future.

“I like the idea of having even more demonstrations of sorts and heritage arts. I would love to have someone be able to do blacksmithing,” McMillen said. “Being a teacher, I would like things geared with kids in mind.”

One thing McMillen is excited about is a recent visit to the Gnadenhutten site by a team from Ken Burns Productions. Burns is well known for making historical films.

“They’re working on a documentary on the American Revolution. They ended up coming (Sept. 25) and filmed,” McMillen said.

The company has been filming locations for the past three years, and the film is likely to be a series of six 2-hour episodes with a completion date in 2025. Though the production team didn’t make any promises, McMillen thinks there is a good chance Gnadenhutten’s story will be included.

The village of Gnadenhutten also will have a Homecoming Festival downtown the same weekend with music, food and activities. Visitors to either event will be able to walk between the festivities.

The schedule of homecoming events to be held at the square in Gnadenhutten is as follows:

—Friday, Oct. 13: Food Truck Friday from 4-7 p.m. and music by Mike Wykoff from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Food available on Friday will be Messdad’s, Hillbilly Hotdogz, Crystal’s Freedom Bee and Amici’s Pizza.

—Saturday, Oct. 14: farmers market from 8 a.m. to noon, food trucks from noon to 8 p.m., sign-in at noon for a cornhole tournament, face painting from noon to 7 p.m., mini golf game and mouse game from noon to 7 p.m., bounce houses and an obstacle course from noon to 8 p.m., Kustom Kemps Car Show from 1-5 p.m. with registration at noon, and Hunter Skeens and the Forerunners from 5-8 p.m. Food available Saturday will be Bang-On BBQ, Messdad’s, Risher’s Ice Cream, Hillbilly Hotdogz, FurMama, Crystal’s Freedom Bee and Amici’s Pizza.