“Under the Apple Trees”, an original play by Duay O’Neil, is playing in Cosby at Carver’s Orchard April 24, 7:00 p.m., April 25, 7:00 p.m., and Sunday afternoon, April 26, 3 p.m. Tickets are $10.00.

This is an outdoor performance, weather permitting, or we go to the apple barn if the skies are inclement. Rain or shine, the show goes on.

The set is an old log cabin. There are 31 members of the cast. The story is of the Carver Family, early settlers in the area, and their journey to their present orchard 75 years ago when the Great Smoky Mountain National Park was formed and their land was bought by the park.

Mountain music opens and closes the show with Dave McClary on the old time banjo with his band. Seven of the Carver family are cast members.

If you enjoy storytelling and lore of the mountains, you will feel as though you have gone backstage yourself…not behind the set, but backstage into the memories of the Carver family from before the Civil War, through the depression, and to the years they left their home in the Park and resettled at the present orchard site. Secrets are shared.

My reaction to the play was to call my aunt the day after opening night April 17th and ask for some more of her stories. She is 88 and I want to know all that she can remember, not just from her lifetime, but from the stories she heard as a child from her grandmother.

Janice Haynes
Creekwalk Inn Bed and Breakfast and Cabins at Whisperwood Farm, Great Smoky Mountains, Cosby, TN