Findings from The Museum Store

Hildene has one of the most commanding views of New England’s most iconic event: the burning hues of autumn foliage featuring the humble maple tree. Stunning foliage is not the only trick of Acer saccharum. It saves its most cunning feature for the gentle warmth of early spring. Known in the region as sugaring season, the warming days and cold nights prompt nature’s sugar maples to wake from their winter dormancy and send sweet maple sap flowing beneath their rough bark.
 
It is hard to say who tapped the first maple on Hildene property, but it was a favorite pastime of Mary Lincoln Beckwith, fondly known as Peggy. Robert’s first grandchild was an avid outdoorswoman by the time she became mistress of Hildene, and was the only year-round inhabitant of the estate. As a young woman, she had completed an agricultural course through the extension offices of Cornell University to support the war effort, and that interest in land stewardship remained with her throughout her life. Peggy tapped trees and boiled sap outdoors to produce her own maple syrup as an annual part of life at Hildene.
 
The Friends of Hildene has continued on with Peggy’s legacy, albeit with a few more modern conveniences. Today, an unassuming stand of sugar maples winds down the sloped path, aptly christened the Maple Trail, from the goat dairy to the dene. Along the way guests can see a vast network of plastic tubing that zigzags across and down the approx. 300 ft descent. Overseeing this project is local sugarmaker Bob Bushee and his son Kyle who have partnered with Hildene for almost 20 years. While Hildene has a large staff, as a non-profit it is important to recognize when to tackle something oneself and when to rely on a professional.

Bob maintains the 1800+ tree taps and lines, and processes the sap in his nearby sugar house. The number of active taps varies from season to season based on the condition of the trees, but each is responsible for between 1 quart to ⅓ gallon of finished syrup. Hildene’s sugarbush churns out about 18,000 gallons of raw sap a year, resulting in 450 gallons of pure Vermont maple syrup. The sap flows down through the tubing to a large metal collection vat before being transported to the nearby sugar house for boiling. Gone are the days of cast iron kettles and tripods over a wood fire. The Bushees employ a high tech evaporator that uses oil heat and reverse osmosis to reduce the sap as quickly as possible. Sugar maple sap has a starting sugar content of just 2%. By the time it is boiling, it already has been condensed to a sugar content of about 15%. The Bushees rely on hydrometer readings to know when the process is complete. Using the Brix scale, maple syrup will finish with a sugar content of about 66%. Once evaporated into its rich amber color, the syrup is bottled and delivered by Bob and his crew to The Museum Store at Hildene, where it is available for purchase along with other estate-made items.
 
For each 40 gallons of tree sap, the final product is one gallon of syrup. At an average of $30-$40 per gallon, this sweet not-just-for-breakfast drizzle can easily cost 16 times more than a gallon of fuel at your local petrol station. The price as well as the limited season have contributed to a steady black market business: The Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist of 2011 saw the theft of 3,000 tons of this liquid gold. Despite the high price, many devotees insist on the real thing. Vermonters and New Englanders alike have been known to travel with a spare bottle in case it isn’t on offer on regional menus, and add it to favorite recipes from apple pies and milkshakes to pork chops and salad dressings.
 
At just eight weeks, sugaring off-season is one of the many unsung occurrences at Hildene, often overshadowed by the unfurling blooms of early spring and the arrival of baby goats at the dairy. The unseen re-awakening of the trees is a much quieter influence, but dependable and steady, just like the values of the family that Hildene works so hard to emulate and preserve.