WILLIAMSTOWN —Saturday, March 15, 10am-1pm at the Hopkins Memorial Forest located at 271 NW Hill Road, Williamstown. Free admission. Parking can be tight so we encourage carpooling or cycling to the event. Shuttle vans will also leave from behind Paresky every 15 minutes starting at 10am. All are welcome. For more information, call x4353.
This event highlights the maple sugaring process, and features tree tapping & wood splitting demos, a chance to see the evaporator in action, syrup tastings, live music, and more.
The 2,600 acre Hopkins Forest – donated to the College in the 1930s by the family of Colonel Amos Lawrence Hopkins – has been actively managed by Williams College for teaching and research endeavors for more than 40 years. The forest also has an array of hiking and cross-country ski trails, along with a visitor center, an herb garden, and a maple sugaring operation.
Traditionally, March is the busiest time for syrup producers in New England. As the days begin to warm, sugar-rich sap starts to flow upward from its winter storage in the trees’ roots to the twigs and buds; it is this sap that has been harvested for generations to produce maple products throughout the region. Sugaring has been going on in Hopkins Forest since the mid-1980s when Williams College students constructed a sugar house in an existing maple grove.
The event is free to the public and appropriate for people of all ages; it will be held regardless of the weather. Hopkins Forest, owned and operated by Williams College, is located at the junction of Bulkley Street and Northwest Hill Road in Williamstown. For more information go online to williams.edu.
