Before grocery stores stocked shelves with jugs of cider, making apple cider in the Northwoods was a community effort.

Families would haul bushels of apples to a shared press, often set up in barns or near
farmhouses. The process was simple. Apples were crushed into a pulp, then squeezed to release
their juice.

Some would drink it fresh, while others would let it ferment into hard cider, storing it for the long winter ahead.