NORTH BRANCH, NY — Long-time residents who remember the days of enjoying fresh-pressed cider straight from the mill have good reason to celebrate. The old North Branch Cidery will soon be refurbished and reopened by Tom Roberts and Anna Aberg, owners of Homestedt, a home furnishings shop and design company in Livingston Manor. Previously, the cidery was owned and operated by Dan Sullivan, but it has been closed since 2000. 

When making trips from Livingston Manor to Callicoon, a beautiful old building caught Roberts’ and Aberg’s attention. That building was the long-shuttered North Branch Cidery, and Roberts said that they became more and more obsessed with the property. Its location was just what they had been looking for to combine their various business interests.

“We’d heard that the owner was impossible to reach, and that he wasn’t interested in selling, but we just looked him up.” Roberts found out that Sullivan lived an hour-and-a-half away. “So we drove down and knocked on his door.” 

That began a process over a couple of years of getting to know one another and learning the history of the cidery. Roberts recalled that one of the first things Sullivan said was that he wasn’t interested in selling – and that potential buyers had been pestering him for years. But eventually Sullivan asked the couple, “What did you have in mind?” 

Tom Roberts says, “We just absolutely fell in love with the property.” He and Anna Aberg expect to turn the barn into a residence first, and then renovate and reopen the cider mill. 

“We started talking about how much we loved the history of the place, everything he had done there and how we wanted to bring it back to its full glory,” Roberts said. He added that the very next day Sullivan showed them around. And then last fall, Sullivan finally said, “OK, look, I can’t do any more now. So I think it’s time for you guys to have it.” 

Roberts and Aberg will renovate the barn next door along with the cidery. They plan to turn it into a home and retail shop, along with a design studio on the second floor. Because renovating the barn will be less complicated than the cidery itself, they hope to have the shop and Aberg’s office up running by the end of this year. The cidery, according to Roberts, will take much longer to open, due to the extensive repair and renovation work required, as well as increased health and safety regulations. 

Roberts said they hope to re-create the attraction that Dan Sullivan brought to the community. He would welcome hearing from people who have stories and memories about the cidery and asked that they share them with him at tom@homestedt.com.