Maple Days at OSV

Maple Days

Saturday, March 28, 2015 to Sunday, March 29, 2015

For many at Old Sturbridge Village, the first whiff of spring isn't the aroma of spring flowers - it's the smell of wood smoke and maple syrup, a sure sign that the sap is rising and spring is on the way.  Join us for four weekends of our Maple Days event throughout March, where you can see maple sugaring as it was done in early 19th-century rural New England in OSV's working sugar camp.

See the entire sugar-making process, from tapping the trees to "sugaring off," and learn why maple sugar was more commonly used than maple syrup in early New England.

Learn about how maple sugaring has changed over the years through our Maple Sugaring Timeline, an examination of different tapping techniques. See demonstrations of the traditional Native American methods, early 19th-century New England, 20th century metal buckets, and contemporary tubing.

Costumed historians will also cook period foods made with maple products by the hearth at the Village’s Freeman Farm.

See a slide show.