On his way back from Hwanseongsa 환성사, instead of returning through Hayang, padyatri took a route heading east, crossing two mountain passes to get back to Daegu. It was a mountain path he had never taken before. After descending from the second pass and entering a village, he was surprised to see that the entire area around him was filled with apple orchards. He hadn’t known that there was a place like this in Daegu.
Later, he learned that it was Pyeonggwang-dong 평광동, which is famous for apples. It is said that during the Japanese invasions of Korea in the late 16th century, refugees from the north first settled here, and even today, most of the villagers are their descendants.
Dr. Woodbridge O. Johnson(1869–1951) was an American missionary who, when he opened a hospital in Daegu in 1899, introduced and planted Korea’s first western apple trees. This marked the beginning of Daegu’s apple history, and the trees he planted became the origin of apple cultivation in the region.
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Pyeonggwang-dong, a village nestled deep in a valley on the eastern side of the Daegu Basin is a place that has been growing apples for over a hundred years. The access road into the village follows a narrow valley, and once you pass through it, a fairly wide basin village unfolds.
Most of the villagers are engaged in apple farming. In this valley, there were once enough residents to have an elementary school, but like many other rural schools, it was closed due to population decline. Now, about 190 households remain. The apples grown here are excellent in sugar content and firm texture, thanks to the deep, well-drained sandy loam soil, the large temperature variations in its climate, and the clean water flowing from nearby valleys.
