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Examples of maple spiles traditional and modern from a display at Malabar Farm State Park.
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In traditional sap collecting, buckets were hung on tapped sugar maple trees to gather sap. Today, sap is collected with vacuum tubes stretching from tree to tree, all the way back to the collection point.
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Harvey Devoe’s sugar camp started similar to this camp, set up at Malabar Farm to demonstrate traditional processing methods. Bad weather forced Harvey and his partner to build a sugar shack for protection from the elements.
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Though the shack at Malabar Farm is no doubt larger and more elaborate than Harvey’s, it demonstrates the purpose: It is a place where farmers are protected from the wind and weather as they boil down sap into syrup or sugar.
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Once a sugar shack is running full bore, it fills up with sweet steam as sap is processed around the clock.
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Harvey Devoe mentions in this month’s diary that prominent neighborhood figure Jacob Leedy passed away. Leedy was in his seventies and was described by Devoe as “quite an old man.”
GALLERY: Where was Harvey, March 1861
