The Shadow
MONTEREY – The 52nd annual Highland Maple Festival begins this weekend in Highland County, “Virginia’s Switzerland,” and runs for two weekends.
The festival recreates a unique and informative insight into a vanishing way of rural American life, the tradition of maple syrup production.
The festival will be held Saturday and Sunday and again next weekend, March 20 and 21. The event has been listed on Southeast Tourism Society’s Top 20 events for 16 years and was designated as a Local Legacy by the Library of Congress in 1999.
Farmers in Highland County open their sugar camps so visitors can observe the process of making maple syrup from tree-tapping to bottling the finished product. Festival highlights include special food, crafts and art shows and entertainment.
Six sugar camps will be open to visitors. Warm clothing and boots are recommended for visits to the camps:
Eagle Sugar Camp, north of McDowell off Route 654 in Doe Hill.
Producers for more than 200 years. Open pan wood-fired evaporators are still used.
Sugar Tree Country Store and Sugar House, near the center of McDowell.
A modern reverse osmosis concentrator and oil-fired evaporator are used.
Closed on Sunday.
Southernmost Maple Products, 15 miles south of Monterey on Route 607 off U. S. Route 220 at Bolar. Sugar water is funneled into the only piggy-back evaporator used in the southern states. Closed on Sunday.
Rexrode’s Sugar Orchard, north of Hightown on Route 637. Rexrode features some large maple trees over 200 years old. The old-fashioned open pan system of evaporation is used as well as the newer wood-fired evaporation.
Puffenbarger’s Sugar Orchard, Route 637 southwest of Blue Grass. A vacuum pump is used to increase the flow of sugar water and miles of plastic tubing make it easier to gather.
Duff’s Sugar House, Fair Lawn Farm, 3 miles south of Monterey on U.S. 220 and 3 miles west on Route 84. Duff’s is a small, family-run sugar house where the trees are still opened by hand and the sugar water collected in buckets.
Craft Shows: Artists and crafters from throughout the east coast display artistic creations. Locations in Monterey include Highland High and Elementary School; courthouse lawn and Main Street. In McDowell locations are Stonewall Ruritan Building and Highland County Museum and Heritage Center.
Entertainment: Saturday, March 13 – 220 South blue grass concert, 1 p. m.; Little Switzerland Cloggers, 3:15 p. m. Saturday, March 20 – Hi-Horse Cloggers, 1 p. m.; Blue Grass Junction, 2 p. m.; Kountry Kickers cloggers, 3:30 p. m. Entertainers perform at the Highland Center in Monterey.
Food: Pancakes: Blue Grass Ruritan Building, Bluegrass, Route 642; Bolar Ruritan Club, Bolar, Routes 220 and 607; Stonewall Ruritan Building, McDowell, Route 678; Highland Public Schools, Monterey, Moon Myerss Road; Bath-Highland Fire Department, Williamsville Community Center, Route 678.
Food, Variety: McDowell -trout, chicken, ham, McDowell Fire Department; baked goods and maple products, Hiner Church of the Brethren.
Monterey – baked goods and chili soup, Ladies Auxiliary, Monterey Firehouse; burgers, hot dogs and pork BBQ, Asbury United Methodist Church, courthouse lawn; country ham, bacon cheese burgers and chili dogs, Church of God of Prophecy, Main Street; foot-long hot dogs, Band Boosters, courthouse lawn; funnel cakes, Monterey United Methodist Church; lamb and veggie dinners, Highland Center; maple BBQ chicken, Highland Little League, Routes 220 and 250; maple doughnuts, Mill Gap Ruritan Club; pork rinds, Monterey Lions Club, courthouse and school grounds; scones, tea and cappuccino, WVLS radio, Highland High School; trout sandwiches, Virginia Trout Company, north on Route 220.
Restaurants in Monterey: pancakes and buckwheat cakes, trout – High’s Restaurant, Main Street; Highland Inn, Main street; Mountain Hideway Restaurant, corner of Routes 250 and 220.
Retail businesses throughout the county will be open with festival theme items. Also, two museums will be open during the festival. The Maple Museum is a replica of an old-time sugar house and is located on U. S. Route 220 just south of Monterey. The exhibit shows the earliest known methods, tools and equipment used by Native Americans in making sugar and syrup.
There is no admission charge.
Highland County Museum and Heritage Center is located in McDowell and features exhibits on Highland County History including the 1862 Battle of McDowell.
The Staunton based Civil War Reenacting Group, the Augusta Grays, will be encamped at the McDowell Battlefield Museum during the festival and will present living histories.
For information on the festival visit the Highland County Chamber of Commerce Web site www.highlandcounty.org or e-mail highcc@cfw.com. The telephone number is 540-468-2550.
