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The students of the Visitation Academy, a private, Catholic school located in downtown Frederick, served up hot apple dumplings to about 150 guests on Friday, to honor the tradition of the founders of their school.

The school, which hosts grades pre-kindergarten to eighth grades, hosted its fourth annual "Apple Dumpling Day" at the school on Friday. The girls baked about 400 apple dumplings to serve to about 150 guests, including local merchants and city leaders.

"It's a great opportunity for the girls, because every girl can participate," said Carol Guaccero, admissions director for the academy. "It's a nice memory of the sisters who did it for the girls, and now the girls do it in memory of them because the sisters are no longer here.

The Apple Dumpling tradition started in 1824, when the Sisters of Charity from Emmitsburg came to Frederick to start a school called St. John's Female Benevolent and Frederick's Free School. In 1846, they decided to focus on an orphanage and they moved to Emmitsburg to continue their work with orphans. They called upon the Georgetown Visitation Sisters to take over the school for them, and they agreed.

In September 1846, the Georgetown Visitation Sisters arrived, but the girls missed the Sisters of Charity and did not embrace the new Visitation Sisters, and went on a hunger strike. In order to persuade the girls to adjust to their new sisters, they started offering the girls apple dumplings for dessert and the girls were won over.

This Apple Dumpling tradition commemorating the change at the school in 1846 continued for decades but was lost during the last 20 years. In 2005, with last remaining Visitation Sisters leaving the school due to failing health, the Visitation Academy reinstated the tradition and today the students bake the apple dumplings for parents, elected officials, local merchants, and the community.