The Dexter Cider Mill: Michigan's oldest, pressing cider since 1886

If you want a taste of old Michigan in the fall, Dexter has it. The Dexter Cider Mill, sitting on the bank of the Huron River, has been pressing apple cider since 1886 — and it’s widely recognized as the oldest continuously operating cider mill in the state. In nearly 140 years it’s had just three owning families, and remarkably little has changed: the mill still squeezes its fresh, unpasteurized cider the old-fashioned way, on an oak rack press, using local Michigan apples blended batch by batch. Come fall, people drive in from all over for that cider and the warm doughnuts (and the caramel apples, apple nut bread, and weekend treats). It’s a working seasonal mill, open roughly from late summer through late November.

The Dexter Cider Mill is at 3685 Central Street, Dexter (dextercidermill.com).