This fine old North Carolina apple originated in the Ophir (pronounced OH-fur) community near the Uwharrie Mountains in the north-central Piedmont region of the state. According to Calhoun (2011), this information was provided to him in 1987 by Mrs. Nellie Williams of Kittrell, NC, whose husband was a former minister in Ophir. The original tree was planted by the parents of Mrs. Robert Saunders of Ophir who collected a root sprout at an abandoned sawmill 75 years earlier. Fruit medium-sized, roundish, sometimes lobed; skin mostly covered in red. Flesh is crisp and very juicy with a pleasant subacid flavor. Ripens late August to early September.