Bethel is an old apple of the Blue Pearmain group that originated in Bethel, Vermont sometime by mid 1800's. It's parentage is unknown, and the apple itself was first described in 1886.
This apple is a true representative of what we may call a heirloom apple. A quite nice, big apple, dark red, ripens late and keeps fairly well. Beach (Apples of New York, 1905) writes: "It is healthy, long-lived and a reliable cropper, usually comes into bearing rather young and bears annually".

Picture of Bethel from Claude's orchard, taken October 1st 2005, apples picked the same day. Size is 70 mm across. Note the scab lesions - on some years, it is worse than that however.

 

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Claude Jolicoeur, Quebec, Zone 4

I found this Bethel apple by pure chance. I was talking to an old chap in the village near my orchard (Petite-Rivière-St-Francois), who had a few apple trees in his back yard. He showd me this old tree and those big and very hard apples, telling me they were "Batelle" apples (this conversation was in French, naturally). Interesting, I said, what a nice apple, and a variety I had never heard about. So next spring, I grafted some in my orchard. This was in 1998. A few years later, I was browsing through Beach's beautiful book The Apples of New York, and saw the Bethel apple. Bethel... Batelle..., if you pronounce the 2 names with a French accent, they really are the same. Plus, the description from the book really matched the apple. So, I had identified my apple!
This is a variety that have demonstrated its hardiness, having lived a long life in zone 4 NE of Quebec. In my orchard, it is among the latest apples to ripen, but it matures properly. It does get moderate scab in an unsprayed orchard as can be seen on the picture, but not too badly. It has also shown good potential for cider, with a high sugar content (S.G. 1.060 to 1.062 - Brix 15) and also high acidity - some blending required. Flavour is very good.

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