Co-owner Dan Abbruzzese is pictured at Orchard Creek Golf Course on Monday in Altamont. Altamont Orchards and Orchard Creek Golf Course have been listed for sale.
Will Waldron/Times Union
Orchard Creek Golf Course, seen on Monday on Dunnsville Road in Altamont, has been listed for sale along with Altamont Orchards. The 18-hole golf course opened in 1999.
Will Waldron/Times Union
The farm store at Altamont Orchards is seen on Monday on Dunnsville Road in Altamont. The owners have decided to retire after helping run the business alongside their family for nearly 60 years.
Will Waldron/Times Union
Apple trees grow in Orchard Creek Golf Course on Monday on Dunnsville Road in Altamont.
Will Waldron/Times Union
Altamont Orchards and Orchard Creek Golf Course in Altamont have been listed for sale.
Will Waldron/Times Union
Inside the greenhouse at Altamont Orchards on Monday, June 1, 2026, on Dunnsville Rd. in Altamont, N.Y. Altamont Orchards and Orchard Creek Golf Course have been listed for sale. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Will Waldron/Times Union
The farm store at Altamont Orchards on Monday, June 1, 2026, on Dunnsville Rd. in Altamont, N.Y. Altamont Orchards and Orchard Creek Golf Course have been listed for sale. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Will Waldron/Times Union
The practice putting green at Orchard Creek Golf Course on Monday, June 1, 2026, on Dunnsville Rd. in Altamont, N.Y. Altamont Orchards and Orchard Creek Golf Course have been listed for sale. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Will Waldron/Times Union
View of Orchard Creek Golf Course on Monday, June 1, 2026, on Dunnsville Rd. in Altamont, N.Y. Altamont Orchards and Orchard Creek Golf Course have been listed for sale. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Will Waldron/Times Union
The 10th hole tee at Orchard Creek Golf Course on Monday, June 1, 2026, on Dunnsville Rd. in Altamont, N.Y. Altamont Orchards and Orchard Creek Golf Course have been listed for sale. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Will Waldron/Times Union
The clubhouse at Orchard Creek Golf Course on Monday, June 1, 2026, on Dunnsville Rd. in Altamont, N.Y. Altamont Orchards and Orchard Creek Golf Course have been listed for sale. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Will Waldron/Times Union
View of Orchard Creek Golf Course on Monday, June 1, 2026, on Dunnsville Rd. in Altamont, N.Y. Altamont Orchards and Orchard Creek Golf Course have been listed for sale. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Will Waldron/Times Union
View of Orchard Creek Golf Course on Monday, June 1, 2026, on Dunnsville Rd. in Altamont, N.Y. Altamont Orchards and Orchard Creek Golf Course have been listed for sale. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Will Waldron/Times Union
View of Orchard Creek Golf Course on Monday, June 1, 2026, on Dunnsville Rd. in Altamont, N.Y. Altamont Orchards and Orchard Creek Golf Course have been listed for sale. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Will Waldron/Times Union
View of Altamont Orchards, right, and Orchard Creek Golf Course, left, on Monday, June 1, 2026, on Dunnsville Rd. in Altamont, N.Y. Altamont Orchards and Orchard Creek Golf Course have been listed for sale. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Will Waldron/Times Union
Dan Abbruzzese looks out onto Orchard Creek Golf Course in Altamont on Saturday, May 30, 2026. The golf course is surrounded by apple trees his family have cared for over the past nearly 60 years.
Lilli Iannella/Times Union
Golfers enjoy a day golfing at Orchard Creek Golf Course in Altamont on Saturday, May 30, 2026. The golf course and its adjacent apple orchard have been listed for sale.
Lilli Iannella/Times Union
ALTAMONT — In 1967, Joe and Ellen Abbruzzese purchased property at 700 Dunnsville Road in Altamont, a rich expanse that had operated as an apple orchard since around the turn of the century.
Over the ensuing decades, the family acquired more property, diversified their crops, and opened a farm store and golf course with banquet space, a restaurant, and a clubhouse, growing the business into what is now Altamont Orchards and Orchard Creek Golf Course.
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Now, the sons of Joe and Ellen Abbruzzese are selling the business and retiring, with hopes the next owner will keep alive the legacy their family built.
Joe and Ellen Abbruzzese turned over the farm’s operations to four of their sons — Joe, John, Dan and Jim — in the late 1980s. Two of the brothers have since retired, leaving operations to Dan and Jim. For nearly 60 years, the Abbruzzeses juggled taking care of the business while growing their family. But the brothers’ children have other career plans and don’t want to take over operations, leading the family to the $5.9 million listing of their 162-acre Dunnsville Road property.
“It’s getting to the point where it’s time,” Dan Abbruzzese said. “I just want somebody who’s going to take care of it. I want it to stay the same or better. We spent so much time making it what it is.”
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For the two brothers, it’s hard to say goodbye to the property they developed for decades and grew into a community space.
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“This is more than just a job. These employees are like family,” Jim Abbruzzese said. “We have pride in this place. We want to leave a legacy in the community.”
“The biggest thing I’m going to miss is the relationships with my employees and customers,” Dan Abbruzzese added. “I’ve had a good life. I wouldn’t trade what I did.”
Before Joe Abbruzzese purchased the orchard alongside his wife, he owned and operated Joe’s Diner in Milton, according to a July 1999 obituary in the Times Union. When an electrical fire burned the diner down, the family decided not to rebuild it, and Joe Abbruzzese leaned on his close connections with the apple industry and started working for William C. Paladino, who owned the farmland property at 700 Dunnsville Road before the Abbruzzese family.
Dan Abbruzzese said his father quickly learned the apple business, recruiting him and his brothers to work on the farm at a young age: Jim was 6 years old and Dan was 10.
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“He kicked us out of bed at 6 a.m. every morning. He taught us how to work, which I think helped us do this,” Dan Abbruzzese said, pointing to the golf course and its offerings, including a pavilion for events and outdoor patio space, which he built himself.
Dan Abbruzzese led the development of the adjoining golf course, clubhouse and more. He “had a feeling” the apple business was going to become less profitable and came up with the idea to build a golf course, a similar concept to Lyman Orchards in Middlefield, Conn.
“I said, ‘This would be a really good place to build a golf course,’” Dan Abbruzzese recalled telling his brothers back in the 1990s as he looked out into the apple trees and Helderberg Mountains.
Just as with other Capital Region apple orchards, the brothers have faced rising average temperatures associated with changes in weather patterns, increasing equipment costs and an aging and dwindling labor force. They’ve also faced increasing government regulation surrounding factors including labor, pesticide usage and environmental protection.
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“It’s a hands-on business. You have to be dedicated to do it,” Jim Abbruzzese said. “I think only the very large will survive in this industry.”
They’ve watched as longtime Capital Region apple orchards, such as Lindsey’s Idyllwood Orchard in Clifton Park and Lakeview Orchards in Melrose, closed over the years.
The 18-hole golf course was a $1.5 million project designed by golf course architect Paul Cowley and built by Lanny and Phillip Robinson, according to an April 1999 article in the Times Union.
“It was a symbiotic relationship,” Jim Abbruzzese said of the orchard and golf course. “If it wasn’t for the golf course, Altamont Orchards wouldn’t still be in business.”
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The brothers opened the golf course in July 1999, days after their father died.
“He told me, ‘I couldn’t have done what you did,’” Dan Abbruzzese said, choking back tears, recalling what his father told him when he saw the finished course.
Once the golf course opened, the property served as “an integration of recreation and agriculture,” Jim Abbruzzese said.
“Golfers only want one thing. They want good greens,” Dan Abbruzzese said, mentioning advice John Lyman of Lyman Orchards gave him when developing Orchard Creek Golf Course.
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The brothers say they often have to work seven days a week, sometimes all day long, to ensure smooth operations. From pick-your-own apple experiences to hosting local school golf team practices, the Abbruzzeses’ family business has become a community staple. Now, with the sale of their property, they hope it can stay that way.
“We try to keep the land open, provide a good product and be a part of the community,” Jim Abbruzzese added. “I think we’ve done that.”
“It’s time for the next generation who wants to do it to take it over,” Dan Abbruzzese added.