By DAPHNE HUTCHINSON

By DAPHNE HUTCHINSON

Rappahannock Newt Staff Writer

As every first grader knows, A is for apple. In Rappahannock, youngsters learn another A—the second one for antiques. Sperryville merchants combine the two to form the backbone of the village’s economy, attracting customers shopping for both winesaps and old oaken dressers.

During autumn months, Elmer Atkins is Sperryville’s busiest business man, hard pressed to find time to divide between his cider mill nestled a little way up the mountain and his antique shop on Route 211.

Apples ripening in local orchards send trucks spilling over the red and golden delicious, winesaps, yorks and stayman to stand in line at Elmer’s cider „ press, the only one in the county. Making his own cider and doing custom pressing for county growers is a full-time job in harvest season. At the same time, Rappahannock’s annual fall show featuring a blaze of color from a million leaves draws carload after carload of city folk looking for trees. The tree hunters turn into antique buyers as they wind back down from Skyline Drive past the shops that line the main road through Sperryville.

This tourist demand for pieces of history coupled with the orchardists’ waiting for apples to be mashed into cider keep Elmer and his family hopping back and forth, spending weekdays at the mill and weekends at his combination gas stationantique warehouseapplemarket.

Last week, bins from Eldon Farms, George Sharp’s Mountain Green Orchards and D. K. Russell and Sons waited their turn while Atkins unloaded apples from Ivan Hall’s pick-up truck and Ted Triplett’s flatbed.

“One of the hardest things in apple season is to get in here,” volunteered Hall who’s been bringing in apples since he first bought his orchard 15 years ago.

“I’ve had them lined up like New York Avenue in rush hour sometimes,” Atkins reported, adding that things are slow so far this year.

According to Triplett, the season is running a little behind, with apples, like the