Kotgarh and Thanedhar

17 km link road bifurcating from Narkanda takes you to the Himachal’s Horticultural heartland, Kotgarh and Thanedhar (1830m), renown for apple orchards. The famous Stokes Farm is located at Thanedhar. Stokes came to India on a trip and while on a summer visit to Shimla, fell in love with its environments, which included the charming hill folk and settled down in Kotgarh. He started the apple farm which soon became renown with its Red Delicious, Golden Delicious and Royal Delicious,apples.

Source hptdc.nic.in

An ideal holiday resort, Kotgarh is famous for not only its scenic beauty but also for its apple cultivation in the Shimla hills which began in the early 1900. An interesting story behind the apple revolution in Kotagarh. Once a poverty and unproductive area, Kotagarh is now considered as one of the most wealthiest regions in Himachal Pradesh. In 1916 Samuel Stokes, a social worker from Philadelphia, USA came to Kotagarh as a missionary worker. Even though he was involved with the spreading of Christianity, Stokes attracted the beauty and the culture of Kotgarh and eventually settled down. He married Agnes Benjamin, a local Rajput Christian teenager. Even though he came to Kotgarh as a missionary worker, he converted from Christian to Hindu and changed his name to Satyanand Stokes. In Kotgarh, he cultivated delicious variety of apples in his farm, which he imported from the famous nursery Growers- Stark Brothers of Louisiana. He encouraged the local farmers to plant apples in their fields thereby bringing prosperity to the people. The apple trees which he planted continue to reap a rich harvest even 100 years later. One can still see the ‘Starking Delicious’ apple orchard that he planted here.

Kotgarh is a quaint scenic place. It offers marvellous walks through pine forests and Apple orchards. The picturesque terraced fields dotted with apple trees and bungalows is like an artist’s painted canvas.

Source :tourism.webindia123.com