By Sherman Shifflett
Covesville. It’s where I grew up.
Covesville, Virginia (County of Albemarle) is located in a valley on
Route 29, southwest of Charlottesville, near the Nelson County line. The
area was originally settled by Scots-Irish immigrants from the
Shenandoah Valley in the mid-1700s, though little of the early
settlement remains. The road here was once the Charlottesville to
Lynchburg stagecoach route with the community developing along the road
in the early 1800s. An early building in the community was the original
Cove Presbyterian Church which dated to 1809 (partially rebuilt in 1880
following a tornado).
Covesville began to grow after the Civil War with the coming of the
railroad and the planting of the first commercial apple orchards. The
orchards required workers and other development including worker
housing, apple packing facilities, storage sheds, cider mills, barrel
makers, and stores. In 1897, Covesville boasted the railroad station
from which “the most apples are shipped direct to Europe.” The apples
won awards through the first half of the 20th century even as the
industry became more industrialized.
Covesville and Albemarle County continue to grow apples, though not at
the scale that they once did. The community changed some with the
widening of US 29 and changes to the apple industry related to increased
shipping prices, higher duties, added quarantines, and increased
industrialization that decreased the number of workers needed. Virginia
remains one of the largest apple producers in the country.
For more information about Covesville and the apple industry in
Albemarle County, see the National Register Listing for Covesville at
the Virginia Department of Historic Resources:
https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/002-5038_CovesvilleHD_2005_Final_NRHP_Nomination.pdf