What is /Users/me/Applications? I am on Mavericks (1.9.2) and I just noticed a folder called Applications in my home folder, i.e. I have a folder /Users/me/Applications.  This folder is empty:

cd Applications
pwd
/Users/me/Applications
ls -a
./          ../         .localized
cat .localized
[nothing]
cd
ls -lh
drwx------   3 me  staff   102B 19 Apr 21:08 Applications/


I was wondering how did this folder came into being... this is admittedly a purely academic curiosity before I get rid of it.
Anything can create ~/Applications.

It's usually used to store apps that you don't want to (or can't because you're not admin) install globally on the system. The folder doesn't exist by default, but if created it will be given a custom icon like /Applications. Any app on the system can create this folder and since no record of what app created it exists you probably won't know.