Maple Sugar Program at Parker Dam State Park

Learn all about the tradition of tapping Maple trees for sap to make sugar and syrup during a special program each Saturday and Sunday in March at Parker Dam State Park. (Photo from Parker Dam State Park Facebook page)

By Julie Rae Rickard

PENFIELD – March is maple sugaring season and Parker Dam State Park in Penfield is hosting a program for people to learn how real maple syrup is made. 

“Learn the sweet story of maple sugaring, how it was discovered, how it was made years ago, and how you can make it yourself today. Learn how to identify maple trees in the winter, how to choose the right trees for tapping, where to place the taps, and how to collect sap,” it says in a recent press release from the park.

People have been taping maple trees since before settlers from Europe came to the United States. Native Americans were making maple sugar as early as 1609, according to the Massachusetts Maple Producers Association.

Their website outlines a Native American legend on the origin of maple sugar.

“One Iroquois legend tells how Chief Woksis had thrown his tomahawk into a maple tree one late winter evening. After he removed it the following morning, the weather turned sunny and warm. Sap began to flow from the cut in the tree, and drip down into a container at the base of the tree. The sap was used to boil the meat for dinner. As the water in the sap boiled away, a wonderful, sweet maple taste was left with the meat.”

Maple sugar was so popular among the natives that they would move their families near clumps of maple trees to set up “sugar camps” during the time the sap flows.

Sap runs in Maple trees from February through March during the time that daytime temperatures get above freezing and drop below freezing at night.

They didn’t turn it into syrup but made “grain sugar” which is similar to brown sugar, “cake sugar” which was hard cakes and “wax sugar” was made by pouring boiled syrup over snow.

This sugar made here rather than the West Indies became popular enough that Thomas Jefferson planted sugar maples on his plantation, Monticello.

During the program at Parker Dam you can “find out how large, modern sugar operations produce syrup and other maple products; and, how Parker Dam State Park’s small operation produces this tasteful treat,” the release explains.

To sweeten the pot, free taste samples of pure maple syrup will be available for all visitors. 

The programs will be held every Saturday and Sunday in March at 2:00 p.m. Attendees should meet at the park’s Sugar Shack, near Pavilion 7, just past the Cabin Road in the day-use area. 

“Come discover the tradition,” it says in the release. 

If you really have a taste for maple products, you should check out the Patterson Maple Farms in Westfield where the Patterson family has been making maple syrup for four generations, according to their website, pattersonmaplefarm.com.

“Cornerstones of the old sugarhouse, where the entire family worked to boil the sap into syrup can still be seen today” on their farm.

They produce not only various types of maple syrup but use their maple sugar for cream, candy, coated popcorn, peanuts and cashews, pretzels, fudge, cotton candy, dipping mustard, BBQ sauce, ice cream topping, salad dressing, jelly, and tea.

All of these items and more are available for purchase on their website.

If you want to visit them, they are having an open house on March 15 and 16.

Parker Dam’s 968-acre Park has many other different options for winter fun.

There is ice skating, cross country skiing, ice fishing, sledding and snowmobiling.

You can keep up on what is happening at the park by liking “Parker Dam State Park” on Facebook and, you can find more information about state park programs and special events by logging on to the Bureau of State Parks website at www.visitPAparks.com, and clicking on “Events”.

  “The primary purpose of Pennsylvania State Parks is to provide opportunities for enjoying healthful outdoor recreation and serve as outdoor classrooms for environmental education.”

  If you need an accommodation to participate in park activities due to a disability, please contact the park you plan to visit.  (Parker Dam State Park Complex: (814) 765-0630 or parkerdamsp@pa.gov)

  With a minimum of one-week notice, interpreters for people who are deaf or hard of hearing may be available for educational programs.