Oak Glen (Calif.)

Oak Glen is a census-designated place situated between the San Bernardino Mountains and the Little San Bernardino Mountains in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Oak Glen is located 15 miles east of San Bernardino, at an elevation of 4,734 feet (1,443 m). The population was 638 at the 2010 census. The original settlers, the Cahuilla and the Serrano, harvested acorns; many metates can still be found in the streambeds where the acorns were leached. According to Huell Howser's 2005 California's Gold profile, the potato was the original crop grown by the first Caucasians to settle in the area. The apple orchards produce many varieties of apples including antique varieties no longer widely commercially available such as Ben Davis, Gravenstein, and Pink Pearl. Although Oak Glen grew apples mainly for export, in the 1940s several farms began to sell apples, apple pies, apple cider and apple butter at roadside stands. The export trade has virtually disappeared, and growers now earn much of their revenue from visitors who are allowed to pick apples directly off the trees at some of the orchards.