<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
Apple trees grow in Orchard Creek Golf Course on Monday on Dunnsville Road in Altamont.<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
Altamont Orchards and Orchard Creek Golf Course in Altamont have been listed for sale.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
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)<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
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)<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
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)<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
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)<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
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)<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
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)<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
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)<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
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)<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
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)<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
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)<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
Dan Abbruzzese looks out onto Orchard Creek Golf Course in Altamont on Saturday, May 30, 2026.\u00a0The golf course is\u00a0surrounded by apple trees his family have cared for over the past nearly 60 years.<\/p>\n
Lilli Iannella\/Times Union<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Lilli Iannella\/Times Union<\/p>\n
ALTAMONT\u00a0\u2014 In 1967, Joe and Ellen\u00a0Abbruzzese 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. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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\u00a0Altamont Orchards<\/a> and Orchard Creek Golf Course.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Now, the sons of Joe and Ellen\u00a0Abbruzzese are selling the business and retiring, with hopes the next owner will keep alive the legacy their family built.<\/p>\n Joe and Ellen Abbruzzese turned over the farm\u2019s operations to four of their sons\u00a0\u2014 Joe, John, Dan and Jim\u00a0\u2014 in the late 1980s. Two of the brothers have since retired, leaving operations to Dan and Jim. For nearly 60 years, the\u00a0Abbruzzeses juggled taking care of the business while growing their family. But the brothers’ children have other career plans and don\u2019t want to take over operations, leading the family to the $5.9 million listing of their 162-acre Dunnsville Road property<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s getting to the point where it\u2019s time,\u201d Dan\u00a0Abbruzzese said. \u201cI just want somebody who\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Make the Times Union a Preferred Source on Google to see more of our journalism when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n For the two brothers, it\u2019s hard to say goodbye to the property they developed for decades and grew into a community space.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cThis is more than just a job. These employees are like family,\u201d Jim\u00a0Abbruzzese said. \u201cWe have pride in this place. We want to leave a legacy in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest thing I\u2019m going to miss is the relationships with my employees and customers,\u201d Dan Abbruzzese added. \u201cI\u2019ve had a good life. I wouldn\u2019t trade what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n Before Joe Abbruzzese purchased the orchard alongside his wife, he owned and operated Joe\u2019s Diner in Milton, according to a July 1999 obituary in the\u00a0Times Union. When an electrical fire burned the diner\u00a0down, the family decided not to rebuild it, and Joe\u00a0Abbruzzese leaned on his close connections with the apple industry and started working for William C. Paladino, who owned the farmland property at 700\u00a0Dunnsville Road before the Abbruzzese family.<\/p>\n Dan\u00a0Abbruzzese 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cHe kicked us out of bed at 6 a.m. every morning.\u00a0He taught us how to work, which I think helped us do this,\u201d Dan Abbruzzese said, pointing to the golf course and its offerings, including a pavilion for events and outdoor patio space, which he built himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dan Abbruzzese led the development of the adjoining golf course, clubhouse and more. He \u201chad a feeling\u201d 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<\/a> in Middlefield, Conn.<\/p>\n \u201cI said, ‘This would be a really good place to build a golf course,’\u201d Dan Abbruzzese recalled telling his brothers back in the 1990s as he looked out into the apple trees and\u00a0Helderberg Mountains.<\/p>\n Just as with other Capital Region apple orchards<\/a>, the brothers have faced rising average temperatures<\/a> associated with changes in weather patterns, increasing equipment costs and an aging and dwindling labor force. They\u2019ve also faced increasing government regulation surrounding factors including labor, pesticide usage and environmental protection.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a hands-on business. You have to be dedicated to do it,\u201d Jim Abbruzzese said. \u201cI think only the very large will survive in this industry.\u201d<\/p>\n They\u2019ve watched as longtime Capital Region apple orchards, such as Lindsey\u2019s Idyllwood Orchard in Clifton Park<\/a> and Lakeview Orchards in Melrose,<\/a> closed over the years.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 18-hole golf course was a $1.5 million project designed by golf course architect Paul Cowley<\/a> and built by Lanny and Phillip Robinson, according to an April 1999 article in the Times Union<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a symbiotic relationship,\u201d Jim Abbruzzese said of the orchard and golf course. \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for the golf course,\u00a0Altamont Orchards wouldn\u2019t still be in business.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The brothers opened the golf course in July 1999, days after their father died.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe told me, ‘I couldn\u2019t have done what you did,’\u201d Dan Abbruzzese said, choking back tears, recalling what his father told him when he saw the finished course.<\/p>\n Once the golf course opened, the property served as \u201can integration of recreation and agriculture,\u201d Jim\u00a0Abbruzzese said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGolfers only want one thing. They want good greens,\u201d Dan Abbruzzese said, mentioning advice John\u00a0Lyman of Lyman Orchards gave him when developing Orchard Creek Golf Course.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n 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\u00a0Abbruzzeses’ family business has become a community staple. Now, with the sale of their property, they hope it can stay that way.<\/p>\n \u201cWe try to keep the land open, provide a good product and be a part of the community,\u201d Jim Abbruzzese added. \u201cI think we\u2019ve done that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s time for the next generation who wants to do it to take it over,\u201d Dan Abbruzzese added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Co-owner Dan Abbruzzese is pictured at Orchard Creek Golf Course on Monday in Altamont. 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