The Cozy Upstate New York Town With A Special Microclimate And The World's Biggest McIntosh Apple Orchard

Tucked up in the northwestern corner of New York state is Lake Champlain, New York's quieter lakeside alternative to the college towns around the Finger Lakes and the bustling port cities along the Great Lakes' shores. Though it has a more low-key atmosphere, Lake Champlain is an incredible getaway packed with recreation and history. It straddles New York and Vermont, with the New York side boasting charming towns like Westport that serve as a gateway to the Adirondacks. Further north up the lake, close to the Canadian border, Chazy is an adorable town where a pastoral character, temperate climate, and warm community intersect to make for a pleasant village to walk around with an exceptional apple orchard.

Chazy is one of those special destinations where the four seasons are distinctly pronounced. The winters can be long and snowy, but the summers get hot, and the autumns bring cooler temperatures with ample rainfall, which is perfectly suited for growing apples. Apples are actually intertwined with the town's origin story. The first European settler of Chazy, Jean-Baptiste LaFramboise, planted the first apple trees in upstate New York here. He was also embroiled in the American Revolution, as LaFramboise and his family were believed to be spies, captured, and had their original Chazy-located house burned down. The Adirondack Coast website duly nicknamed LaFramboise "the Johnny Appleseed of the American Revolution." Today, Chazy Orchards stands where LaFramboise first planted his apple trees, and it's since become the world's largest McIntosh apple orchard.

If you're flying into the Lake Champlain area, your best bet is to arrive at the Burlington International Airport in Vermont, about an hour and 15 minutes away from Chazy by car. Montréal's Montréal-Trudeau International Airport is closer (an hour away) but requires crossing the border. You'll find the Chazy Orchards just outside of the town center, open for apple-picking Monday through Friday when the apples are in season. The orchard sprawls across around 1,300 acres, and, though its main staple is the McIntosh apples, other varieties grown here include honeycrisps, Cortlands, and galas. The flourishing orchard is the result of the area's microclimate — not only the brisk autumn temperatures, but also the rainfall, high calcium content in the soil, and the water quality.

Chazy's history from long before the apples were planted are present all around town. One of the most ancient fossilized reefs, the Chazy Fossil Reef, partially extends into town. While some of the most well-preserved fossils of the exposed reef are on the quiet Vermont island of Isle La Motte across the bay, people have found fossils in Chazy, too, particularly along the shoreline of Chazy's Landing. The lake also has its own monster legend akin to upstate New York's own Loch Ness Monster named "Champ," which people allege to have seen along the shores of Chazy.

Driving around town, you might notice several historic markers that designate important sites from Chazy's past. Near the water, for example, is a marker for the 1805 log house that is the oldest inhabited home in the county. You can see the site of LaFramboise's homestead site that was established in 1763, also by the lake in the southern part of town. In the town's center, the Alice T. Miner Museum is a treasure chest of Americana housed in a colonial home dating back to 1812 that you can't miss. The surprisingly extensive collection includes over 6,000 artifacts related to the North Country of New York, ranging from rare books and manuscripts to ceramics and furniture. The museum is free, open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

In the western part of town, the Lake Alice Wildlife Management Area is great for when you want to venture into nature. It encompasses a mix of forest and wetlands, with a 0.4-mile hiking trail that starts at the Ridge Road parking lot. The trail has two loops, meandering the edge of Lake Alice and with viewing platforms over the lake. Wildlife on the trail is abundant, including herons, turtles, and white-tailed deer. You can also fish on the lake, and in winter, the area is perfect for cross-country skiing or snowshoeing.