BACKROADS • JANUARY 2022
Page 17
BATTENKILL VALLEY CREAMERY
691 COUNTY ROUTE 30, SALEM, NY 12865 • 518-859-2923 • BATTENKILLCREAMERY.COM ICE CREAM PARLOR: 11:30AM-8PM DAILY YEAR-ROUND We were checking in to The Bond in Warrensburg during this year’s Americade. We were telling the young woman showing us around about Backroads and I mentioned that we were hoping to find some great ice cream during our visit. Her eyes lit up and she said, emphatically, that we HAD TO go to Battenkill Valley Creamery in Salem, NY. With such a resounding recommendation how could we not, so we plotted a nice day’s ride with a little something for Brian and an afternoon pick-me-up of ice cream to tide us over before dinner. After making our stop at Ulysses S. Grant’s Cottage in Gansevoort, NY (certainly a must-see when up in the Lake George area), we meandered east over the Hudson River and on some very tasty country roads to the outskirts of Salem, NY. Nestled along the Black Creek you’ll find the bucolic farm, owned and operated by the McEachron family. They have been dairy farming in the Battenkill Valley region of upstate NY for more than a century, starting out in 1902, making a move in 1945 to their current location and never looking back. From their grandfather’s 12 cows to their current herd of over 350 Holsteins, Jerseys and crossbreeds, the McEachrons have been making award-winning dairy products and keeping people happy and healthy for a long time. In 2003 the idea of bottling their own milk on the farm took hold and over the next several years, the plan took off, with major renovations and equipment bought and installed. February 15, 2008 saw the
first day of processing, with milk going from cow to bottle in less than 8 hours, some of the freshest milk you will ever taste. Just a year later, they began producing their own truly homemade, super premium ice cream and the following May they opened their ice cream parlor. Pulling into their lot, we saw several picnic tables and chairs scattered across the green lawn with folks enjoying the warm, sunny day and cool ice cream. Battenkill has a walk-up ice cream window as well
