March 21 & March 28, 2025 (10am – 3pm)
Geared for grades 2 – 12
This Maple Festival geared for school groups brings history, chemistry, math, and ecology to life! Reverse osmosis? Sap to syrup ratios? The importance of maple sugar for the economy of anti-slavery protest? No other field trip has all this in store for your students. This is a self-guided experience that takes plae at BOTH our Historic Village AND Nature Center. See below for details about what is included throughout the day. Plan for 2-4 hours on site.
Questions? contact education@gcv.org
Visit the sugar house
Did you know? Part of the Nature Center at GCV&M is a working sugar house, where sap is collected from the Sugar Bush on our grounds and turned into real NY maple syrup!
When you visit the Sugar House during our Maple Sugar Festival you’ll see the modern-day wood-fired evaporator in action, learn how much sap it takes to make one gallon of maple syrup, smell the sweet bubbling sap as it boils down into thick sugary syrup, and more.
Maple products from the Sugar House are available for sale in the Flint Hill Store.
Explore the sugar bush
See the techniques and tools that early settlers used to collect sap and make maple sugar! Learn from costumed historic interpreters how clear sap was boiled down into thick maple syrup and hardened into maple sugar.
Venture into the Historic Village
Meander in and out of historic homes around the Village and explore 19th-century uses for maple syrup and sugar, and even sample some historic “receipts,” called recipes, today!
- Learn about sweet treats and baking with maple sugar
- Delve into maple products as trade goods in the Altay General Store
- Enjoy Indigenous storytelling and learn about the origins of local maple traditions
- more details will be added throughout January
