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Old Sturbridge Village Celebrates Maple Days March 8-23

(Sturbridge, Mass.) February 6, 2008 - Historians at Old Sturbridge Village will demonstrate early New England maple sugar-making at the village's own working "Sugar Camp" from 10 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. each Sat. and Sun. from March 8-23. Visitors can experience the entire sugar-making process, from tapping the trees to "sugaring off."

In addition, OSV's Oliver Wight Tavern will offer a free Maple Days pancake breakfast with the price of admission from 8:00 -10:30 a.m. Saturday March 8, 15 and 22. Normal price of the breakfast is $10 for adults, $6 for children under 10. OSV members will receive a 10% discount to the breakfast. Reservations are recommended; call 800-733-1830.

Maple sugaring at Old Sturbridge Village

New England farm families in the 1830s usually tapped around 100 trees and made 400 pounds of sugar each season. "Everybody helped with the sugar making - women, children, friends, neighbors - and the favorite children's taste treat of "maple snow" was actually the result of testing the syrup's consistency before granulating it for storage," said OSV Coordinator of Agriculture Adam Halterman, of West Brookfield, Mass.

Home-made maple sugar was a cheaper alternative to expensive cane sugar, which was imported from the West Indies. Boiling the maple sap required a high heat and lots of wood, but in the 1830s, after years of clearing forests for farm fields, wood was scarce and the cost was high.

Because of this, early New Englanders used waste wood to stoke sugar camp fires. "Broken boards, old fence posts, chunks of pine, shingles, you name it -- all kinds of scrap wood were burned for sugar making," Halterman said, adding that cheaper wooden troughs were also used to collect the sap, rather than more expensive buckets. At OSV, the sap is boiled in large iron kettles suspended over an open fire.

Both sugar maples and red maples are tapped to make sugar. "Although sugar maple sap has more sugar, about 2-3 percent, red maples grow more abundantly in our area, so we tap both kinds of maple trees," Halterman said.

Helping Halterman run the Old Sturbridge Village sugar camp are historic interpreters Rhys Simmons of Leicester, and Kevin Fountain of Warren. "Most people equate the smell of spring with flowers, but for us it's the smell of wood smoke and maple syrup. That's the surest sign that spring is coming."

Old Sturbridge Village celebrates New England life in the 1830s and is open 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Tues. - Sun. Admission: $20; seniors $18; children 3-17, $6; children under 3, free. For details: www.osv.org or call 1-800-SEE-1830.