The kids and I have read about it, we’ve seen pictures of it, but we’ve never experienced it…maple syrup!
Since that would require a trip to Vermont, the kids and I settled to occasionally enjoy it for meals.
Then a friend told me that I needed to go to Highland Country, Virginia, where maple syrup is tapped!
DRIVING WITH LEE THE GPS
I had routed us through Staunton but there was an accident on the highway and the GPS (Lee) took us off the highway sooner, at Harrisonburg.
Unwitting-lee we followed Lee’s alternate route suggestion, which unwise-lee took us on a dirt road that sure-lee was actual-lee a network of private drives for several houses.
We had to abandon the horrib-lee rutted muddy road and find a squeezy spot to turn around.
That dirt road came back out on the main road we had previous-lee been on.
Then Lee said to continue for 17 miles.
Eventual-lee, we drove higher and higher and higher into the mountains and entered George Washington National Forest.
Odd-lee the road become a narrow one-lane dirt road that led us to a snowy icy road with no room to turn around or we’d go over the edge.
With every mile we gained, our ETA increased from 15 minutes to 30 minutes, to 45 minutes, to an hour…
Final-lee, we descended from the mountainous the forest, drove on to a paved road, and found a field of black cows sedate-lee looking at us.
While driving on civilized roads through pasture land, we saw a sign welcoming us to Virginia!
That mountain road had taken us from Virginia, into West Virginia, then back into Virginia!
DUFF’S SUGAR HOUSE, UNIQUELY OLD-FASHIONED
My first choice of a sugar camp tour was Duff’s Sugar House at Fair Lawn Farm, since he sugars off in strictly the old-fashioned way!
Here’s the bucket collecting sugar water, as they call it in the south, because that is more authentic than calling it sap, as they do in the north.
It was fascinating to see how clear the liquid was.
This is an old-fashioned wood fired open evaporator pan for the collected sugar water.
At this point he gave us samples to drink.
Oh, that was not only delicious, but deliciously different.
Alas, we couldn’t buy any because they sold out yesterday!
19TH CENTURY CAST IRON POT
Awaking at 3am during the sugaring season, Duff heads to his sugar house to move the sugar water from the open pan to the 19th century cast iron pot (see header photo) to boil off the rest of the water.
As it heats up, the pores of the cast iron open which allow maple sugar from previous batches from previous years…decades…nay centuries…to pour forth and become part of the recipe.
I lit up and exclaimed, “We’re drinking history!”
He liked that!
“Yes,” he affirmed. “We are drinking history!”
Enjoy this great video of maple production at Duff’s Sugar House.
VIRGINIA’S LITTLE SWITZERLAND
Although we visited other sites which were quite modern, Duff’s was our favorite of the day!
Still amazed that we found maple syrup production in Virginia, we thought that only happened in New England.
Duff mentioned that Highland County, where he lives, is about as southernmost that Sugar Maples grow.
Sugar maples grow naturally in Virginia, with a large concentration in Highland County, a stunning fact considering these trees require cold weather to survive and run sap for the production of maple syrup.
Called Virginia’s Little Switzerland, due to the county’s steep mountains and valleys, Highland County borders West Virginia, with the western boundary in the Allegheny Mountains, on the eastern Continental Divide, and the eastern border in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with the ridge and valley in between.
With one of the highest elevations east of the Mississippi, Highland County is beat in Virginia’s highest elevation by Grayson County in the southern – southwestern region of the state, which also produces maple syrup.
Further, Highland County is the least populous in Virginia, with only about 2000 people living in the 416 square mile area, translating to an average of 5 people per square mile, which allows lots of room for mountain ridge scenery!
Highland County’s highest temperature averages 80 degrees in July, compared to the rest of the Commonwealth’s ability to swelter in high humidity around 100 degrees on various summer days.
The coldest average temperature is in January, at 17 degrees.
Since maple syrup production typically runs 4-6 weeks, during which winter ends and spring begins, with freezing nights with warm days, Highland County averages optimum benefit from its elevation.
Monthly rainfall averages 3 to four inches.
