Abandoned Sugarhouse Photos

[BridgewaterHill]

There's an old sugarhouse not far from us that has been abandoned for years and has tons of character. If anyone out there knows of similar abandoned sugarhouses please let me know - I'd love to get some photos before they fall down! Many thanks.



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[lpakiz]

These buildings are of interest to me also. Hope you get lots of responses!

[Tweegs]

I know you wanted to shoot your own photos, but this is a bit far and not much of a shack to begin with. I just happen to know the history of this one as it sits on my property.

I am the second owner of this place and also the second sugar maker to reside here.

My wife and I were set up hawking syrup at a local farmers market when a lady about our age stopped by to purchase. She gasped when she caught sight of our address on the bottle. Turns out she is the daughter of the previous owner (now deceased). Her purchase increased dramatically as she simply had to have enough now for each of her 5 siblings. We chatted a while and then she e-mailed us this photo.

The shack was built in ’83, the house in ’87. In my opinion, he had his priorities straight.
It is located on 26 acres in Fowlerville, MI.
The original tap count was around 60. Flat pans, block arch, buckets only.
I hear tell he spent much of his time up in that shack, converting the arch to a grill and just camping out.
Walls were added later on 3 sides, mainly consisting of old garage doors.
He and his wife abandoned sugar making in ’95 in favor of wintering in Florida. The kids kept the operation going until ’98 when life got in the way.
He and his wife passed a day apart in ’05. It is said that they were so frugal in life that they didn’t want to pay for two funerals.

My wife and I thought briefly about resurrecting it when we bought the place in ’08, but sadly, it is too far gone to make the thought even feasible. Not to mention getting water and electric to it being cost/distance/logistically impractical. The support posts are rotted at ground level and one day soon a strong wind is going to bring it down.

Feel free to use the photo and story, if it suits you.


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[Shawn]

And you will never know what you might find in one of those old abandoned sugar houses to hang in yours if permission is given to have, kind of a little bit of history from the past and past syrup producers.

[Ausable]

Gentlemen - Thanks. I enjoyed the pictures of the old sugar houses. Tweegs - I like the story You wrote to go with the picture. -----Mike----

[lpakiz]

Tweegs,
Thanks for the pic and story. Very interesting!

[maplecherry]

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here are a few that I have seen in travels around the woods we hunt

[Ausable]

Maplecherry - Very nice pictures. ----Mike----

[gmcooper]

Really nice to see these old sugarhouses and the stories that go with them.
There is one old one on route 9 in VT think it is just west of Hogback Mt. I never think to stop and take a pic when we go by. No idea on the story behind it but I have been driving past it since mid 80's and never thought it looked like it was in use.

[heus]

8285828682878288
here are a few that I have seen in travels around the woods we hunt
I love your third pic. Isn't it in the sbi calendar?

[madmapler]

Often times finding an old sugarhouse like these means locating a sugarbush thats already dedicated to tapping.

[maplecherry]

8292
Here's another. Although not clear - inside the collapsed structure there are 2 complete arches and pans, buckets, a fine collection of beer bottles, porcupine, and everything else you would expect to find. The wooden storage tank almost looks like it would still work. Given what things cost today (probably not any more than during this operations heyday) to set up could you imagine just walking away from all that equipment?

[noreast maple]

Great pics , I love seeing these and finding out about them. always interesting.

[red maples]

I'll have to try to get a picture but we have one down the road that is from around the 1930's I think, its post and beam and was actually cut in 1/2 to make for the widening of the road. It was called maple hill sugarshack. the main section of the property abuts mine although there are few sugars left as the property consisting of about 400 acres at the time was clearcut c. 1947 the whole woods was loaded with big sugarmaple around 80 to 100 years old. the wood was used for building barns and local houses and the bulk of it was sold off for furniture making etc. the property was then used for dairy farming and eventually grew in with a lot of White eastern pine and hemlock. and has scattered other trees reds, very few sugars, birch, beech, oak and a little black poplar here and there. Some of the property was subdivided and sold off in order keep the farm afloat when the milk prices bottomed out. there were many big Dairy farms in this area at the time and all but 1 still remains that I know of. There are no big giant maples left from the original property the last one split apart during the Ice storm of '08. was almost 5 feet across and was estimated to be well over 250 years old.

just a little side note and interesting little story. the other dairy farm that used to be across the street from my house (which was subdivided and and the barns torn down. although the original house foundation is still there. was started in the 1820's and the family ran pirate ships out of seabrook habor ,nh as it was called at the time. and they captured ships and stole the bounty and crew and brought them back to the farm to work as slaves. at times they had as many as 50 to 100 slaves working the fields and barns. my property was part of the farm before being donated to build a community church (which lasted less than a year back in 1970's closed shortly after the pastor was seen driving a red corvette convertible) back in the 1910 - 40. It was the chicken house part of the farm and had over 10,000 chickens used for both eggs and meat. it had a separate house just for slaughtering on it. where they would slaughter pigs, cows, goats, chickens and what ever else they processed for meat back then.

The families of all the farms around still live on the farm properties but as families and the farmers died off and the younger generations sold off the properties piece by piece the farms dissolved. My Neighbors told me a lot of stories about the history of the area. I would have loved to see this area through the years just to see how things looked a lot of the back roads were logging and farm roads and didn't become town roads until they were developed. very interesting history.

[markr]

This is a great thread, there is one old sugar house close to mine and a don't know what the name of it is, however in an interesting twist my great uncle painted many folk art paintings of this sugar house . I will try in the next short while to take a pic of the original as well as a pic of my uncles painting. Thanks Mark

[sugarin' in the hood]

There are two that come to mind that can be seen from the road in Moretown, located in central VT. One off South Hill Road and the other on The Common Road.

[BridgewaterHill]

Many thanks for all the photos and stories - keep them coming. This was my first post and I'm very impressed with the interest in this thread. I'll follow up on this as soon as time allows.


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[BridgewaterHill]

Thanks to 'sugaring' in the hood' for pointing me towards Moretown - I found the two abandoned sugarhouses you mentioned. A light snowfall had created some real atmosphere. Check out the $ insignia on the doors!

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[lpakiz]

BridgewaterHill, neat! Thanks for sharing.

[Shawn]

If they could only talk

[RileySugarbush]

Here are some photos I scanned from slides given to me by a friend. They were taken by his father in the 70's when he was a forester surveying land that was about to be cleared for mining in the far north of Minnesota. Shown is a small shelter, containing a large number of sap containers made of birch bark, formed and stitched together with twigs or roots to keep them from unfolding. Also some flat carved wood spiles. Scattered outside were some old rusted galvanized buckets as well.

I have a bark container and a spile on display in my sugarhouse. Great examples of Native American maple sugaring!

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[OldManMaple]

84718472847384708469This is all that remains of a sugar house in my bush. Land changed hands in 1920 so last used sometime before then. Skidder ran over the pans in the '80s.
Don't know if you can see the patch on the pan. Too far gone?

[The dairy farmer]

What are the tube things in photo ??

[bairdswift]

A good book a picked up a while back.

[OldManMaple]

What are the tube things in photo ??

Drop tube pans, or whats left of them. The fire went through the tubes like a boiler.

[Craig M]

9038

This is the sugarhouse that was located on my family's farm in Burton Ohio. My dad and grandfather built it in the early 70's and ran about a 750 tap operation for years. There are plenty of fond memories from my childhood spent here and probably the reason I'm trying to start a small operation now. The farm has been sold years ago but curiosity got the best of me and I went trespassing just to see if it was still standing. I "borrowed" a board out of it that I will someday hang in my sugarhouse when completed.

[Michael Greer]

This past hunting season, I stumbled across a stone-built arch. No sign of any of the metal parts, or any remnants of the building (if there was one), but a clearly stacked rectangle with sloping bottom, and an open end to feed the fire. I'll try to get a picture in the spring.

[Galena]

I'm not often out in the deep bush, but around here in Canuckistan, settlers HAD to build a house measuring certain dimensions - I think 12x24 or so - as at least a log house. within a year of being granter land by the Crown, to prove that they meant to permanently settle. So there are quite a few ol' falling-down structures of those approximate dimensions scattered all over Eastern Ontario. I guess some have been pressed into service as sugar shacks but have never really gone on a hunt, per se, for them.

Maybe now I will, though they may be a little out of the OP's range :-)

[Yellzee]

I have an area in the back of my land where I can see they used to make syrup, there are rows of smooth rock lined up on the ground with a space between them that pans would have sat on. A very old rotted piece of chimney and barrel. Old rotted metal buckets are scattered around the woods. We decided to take the metal detector back there for fun, and and were amazed to find tons of old square nails. I had no idea there would ever have been a building there. found some old door hinges together where the door must have rotted and 1/2 of an old saw blade about 3 feet long. Also some old taps.. but they didn't look as old as I would expect in a pile.

Gave up with the metal detector as we were just getting so many hits for nails, but may have another go at it this spring.

Must have been very old, there is a maple right in the middle of the area that I tap now!

[sapdog]

Great thread! many memories of old sugar houses accessed by forgotten roads, and the mysteries behind their cracked windows. long hours of work ended in long years of silence, yet monuments that remain as testament to the joys, livelihoods, and lessons of the maple woods.
great pictures.

[ridgerunner394]

wow those are awesome finds John (Rileysugarbush) - thanks for sharing. This is a great way to show respect for the history and tradition of the craft. There are many who love sugaring but will never be able to experience the excitement of coming across such rich history!