Experience Maple Month in Central MA with something sweet around every corner.
Experience Maple Days at Old Sturbridge Village
March brings rising sap to life at Old Sturbridge Village, with its annual Maple Days sugar camp, happening Fridays to Sundays through March 17. 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. Costumed historians will also cook period foods made with maple products and the tinner and cooper will make maple-related items. On Saturdays and Sundays during Maple Days, head to the Ox & Yoke Café from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for a special Waffle Bar, featuring made-to-order waffles and a variety of toppings to create your own masterpiece.
Savor a Maple Breakfast at Hardwick Vineyard & Winery
Every Saturday & Sunday through March, Hardwick gets a little sweeter. Their beloved Maple Barn Breakfasts spotlight maple-inspired goodies for guests from all over. There are plenty of seating opportunities, with reservations available for 9:30 a.m., 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. each weekend day. Live music and weather-permitting wagon rides liven up the grounds for post-breakfast jubilee.
Visit Bruce & Sully’s Pure BS Maple Shack
The team at Pure BS Maple Shack in Auburn have been churning out syrup since 2007, and they’re clearly pros. Bruce Hopper and wife Maria (along with their family of saplings) hand-tap maple trees each year throughout the neighborhood and set to work boiling sap. Folks have come to recognize puffs of steam, a sweet smell wafting in the air and the sound of a dinner bell to signify when a new batch is ready. You won’t mistake the Pure BS Maple Shack for a traditional maple farm. Instead, it captures the sweetness of Auburn, a welcoming old New England village. The shack will be open for tours, tastings, a bit of science and math, tales and good hearty laughs each weekend in March—Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.—with Golden, Amber, Dark and Very Dark syrups available, as well as with maple cream, maple candy and maple sugar.
Sip at BirchTree Bread Co.
BirchTree Bread Company’s signature maple latte has been a staple on their menu for years—and March brings the perfect excuse to visit and warm the soul with a bit of sweetness. The folks at BirchTree source their syrup from Bruce Hopper of Pure BS Sugar Shack in Auburn (more on them above).
Tap the Trees at Grand Maple Farms
New Braintree’s tree tappers unite at Grand Maple Farms in New Braintree, a father and son sugaring business nestled in the woods of scenic Central Massachusetts.
Snag a Bottle of Sap Castle
Sap Castle is a third-generation farm producing high quality maple syrup in Rutland, in a hand-raised timber frame sugarhouse. Click here to discover where you can buy these specialty syrups—at the farm, in stores and at farmers markets locally.
Savor the Sweet at Hardwick Sugar Shack
A small family farm in Hardwick, the local Sugar Shack produces pure products and hosts an open house every Sunday in March for those looking to discover Massachusetts maple syrup—claimed to be “the best maple syrup. Ever."
