This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

Historic Weston Orchard & Vineyard is a 50-acre orchard in the Missouri River bluffs at Weston, in Platte County, running what it describes as one of the largest u-pick apple operations in the Kansas City metro. Erik and Kilee Olson, a fifth-generation farm family, took the operation on in 2017. It carries roughly a dozen apple varieties plus strawberries, tart cherries, peaches, blackberries, grapes and pumpkins, and keeps a kitchen, bakery and cider mill on site turning out apple donuts, pies and cider. The season runs May to December.

Description

Historic Weston Orchard & Vineyard is a 50-acre fruit farm at 18545 County Road H outside Weston, Missouri, set in the bluff country above the Missouri River in Platte County.12 It describes itself as one of the largest u-pick orchards in the Kansas City metro area, and the claim is at least plausible against the field — the apple list alone runs to a dozen or more varieties.1

Those varieties are Gala, Jonathan, Honeycrisp, Fuji, JonaGold, Red and Golden Delicious, Empire, Evercrisp, Granny Smith, Rome, Braeburn and Pink Lady, spanning early to late season and covering both eating and cooking apples.2 Around the apples the farm grows strawberries, tart cherries, peaches, blackberries, grapes and pumpkins, which is what allows a season stretching from May all the way to December.12

The processing side is what separates it from a straight pick-your-own. The farm runs a kitchen, a bakery and a cider mill on site, producing apple donuts, pies, caramel apples, jams and jellies, and its own apple cider.1 The vineyard supports wine tasting.1 Hayrack rides and the pumpkin patch fill out the fall.1

The operation has been recognized outside the region: it took Best U-Pick Farm in the 2019 Discover the Best of Missouri Life Awards and won the USA TODAY 10Best Readers’ Choice award for Best Apple Orchard the same year.1

Goods and services

  • U-pick apples — Gala, Jonathan, Honeycrisp, Fuji, JonaGold, Red and Golden Delicious, Empire, Evercrisp, Granny Smith, Rome, Braeburn, Pink Lady2
  • Strawberries, tart cherries, peaches, blackberries12
  • Grapes and an on-site vineyard12
  • Pumpkin patch — fall1
  • Wine tasting1
  • Cider mill — house-pressed apple cider1
  • Bakery and kitchen — apple donuts, pies, caramel apples1
  • Farm store — jams and jellies1
  • Hayrack rides1

History

Erik and Kilee Olson, a fifth-generation farm family, established the business in its current form in 2017.2

The property’s older history is unresolved and deserves care. The business name carries the word “Historic,” and Weston has a documented orchard tradition going back well into the nineteenth century, but no source located in this pass establishes when the orchard on this parcel was first planted, who farmed it before 2017, or what specifically the “Historic” in the name refers to. That is a real gap rather than a detail omitted for space, and it is the single most valuable thing a follow-up pass could resolve — most likely through the Weston Historical Museum or the Platte County Historical Society.

A separate Weston orchard, Vaughn Orchard on Route 273, appears in older accounts of apple growing in the area and is reported closed, with its trees removed and the ground turned to corn.3 The two are distinct operations and should not be conflated; Vaughn is noted here only because searches for Weston apple history surface it alongside this farm.

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Historic Weston Orchard & Vineyard — official site — asserts: address 18545 Co Rd H, Weston, MO 64098; phone (816) 253-8240; a 50-acre farm; crops of apples, cherries, peaches, strawberries and pumpkins; vineyard and wine tasting; store and bakery items including caramel apples, apple donuts, pies, jams and jellies and apple cider; kitchen, bakery and cider mill on site; hayrack rides and pumpkin patch; describes itself as “one of the largest U-pick orchards in the Kansas City metro area”; open May to December; 2019 Discover the Best of Missouri Life Awards Best U-Pick Farm and 2019 USA TODAY 10Best Readers’ Choice winner for Best Apple Orchard. This is the primary currently-operating proof. (Fetched 2026-08-14. Companion domain westonorchard.com returned HTTP 403 to direct fetch.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15

  2. Historic Weston Orchard & Vineyard — business profile as surfaced from the official and directory listings — asserts: the orchard is owned by Erik and Kilee Olson, a fifth-generation farm family; the business was established in 2017; it is a 50-acre farm nestled in the bluffs of the Missouri River providing local, seasonal produce year-round; apple varieties include Gala, Jonathan, Honeycrisp, Fuji, JonaGold, Red and Golden Delicious, Empire, Evercrisp, Granny Smith, Rome, Braeburn and Pink Lady, alongside strawberries, tart cherries, pumpkins, blackberries, peaches and grapes. (Content accessed via search-surfaced summary — see method note.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  3. Yelp — Vaughn Orchard, Weston (marked CLOSED) — asserts: Vaughn Orchard at 23200 State Rt 273, Weston, Missouri is closed as of a listing updated July 2026. Cited here only to distinguish that separate, now-closed Weston orchard from this business. Aggregator — used only for the closure and disambiguation note. ↩

Categories

On the record — ks.city/registry/historic-weston-orchard-and-vineyard · record updated 2026-08-14