About Us

Sky Top started as a curiosity that grew into a business experiment and quickly became a family affair. Today, we (David and Lindsey Butler) run Sky Top as a full-time business. As any farmer can tell you, we are working up here even in the months when the "open" sign is taking a vacation.

History

Back in the late 1960s, Everette Butler (David's father) purchased a home in Flat Rock. Everette had fallen in love with this area when he began bringing David and his other children to summer camp each year. When Everette purchased his land, it only had a few apple trees on it. Though he hadn't intended to operate an orchard, it wasn't long before he began exploring the idea of farming apples. After much research and help from an extension agent, Mt. McAlpine's 70 to 80 acres were soon full of apple trees and thus began the Sky Top commercial apple farm which sold exclusively to area supermarkets.

David, in college in Florida, was soon summoned to help out with the new venture. David eventually transferred to USC in Columbia to be closer to the farm. David met Lindsey in college and soon she was in the apple business too.

Sky Top Orchard Today

We've come a long way since those early days and over time we've come to realize that as much as we enjoy farming, we enjoy sharing our farm and mountain with others even more. So, we've adjusted our orchard to suit the tastes of our visitors instead of the needs of the supermarket.

Over the years, we added picnic tables and shelters so families could spend time with each other enjoying autumn breezes and the fruits of the season. We added an apple house and pumpkin house for kids to explore and started hauling people around on hayrides. Almost every year brings something new to try out and share.

Today,Sky Top consists of a much more manageable 40 acres. Not selling to supermarkets means we harvest our apples only when they reach peak perfection. We check the sugar content and taste- test before we ever send you into the field to pick. We also enjoy passing along our knowledge and appreciation for nature and agriculture to others so your children may meet us before you do. We love hosting field trips and group tours and sharing a little nostalgia with all our guests. Many of today's kids don't have ties to a farm like generations past so we like showing them how apples grow and what it takes to get an apple from the tree to their tummies.

We hope you'll enjoy all our mountain has to offer and that you'll appreciate all the time and effort that has gone into creating Sky Top. There is nothing quite like fall on the mountain with all the scents of the season and sounds of the farm. Take time to enjoy it. We do.