About the Putnam Family Farm
The Putnam Family Farm was purchased by Joel and Esther Putnam in 1854, and
has been producing maple syrup since about 1863.
In the early days, the
sugarbush consisted of about 1000 taps. Sap was collected in wooden buckets and
gathered by horse-drawn wooden tubs. The sap was boiled in flat-bottom metal
pans on two stone arches. By the turn of the century, the sugarbush had grown to
3000 taps. Wooden
buckets were replaced by metal buckets, and the stone arches were replaced by a
single metal arch.
In that era, there was little market for liquid maple syrup.
Most of the crop was sold as maple sugar @ 10 cents per pound in five and ten
pound tin cans.
A new sugarhouse was built in 1936, the old one having
stood the test of time for nearly
75 years. Tractors began to replace horses for gathering sap in the 1950s and
1960s. Otherwise, sugaring at the Putnam Family Farm continued largely unchanged
until August 1968 when the sugarhouse burned. A small replacement sugarhouse was
built and only enough syrup for family use was produced from 1969 to 1976.
In
1976 another sugarhouse was built which served us well until it was retired in
2002.
Bill & Donna Putnam, the current operators, are proud to be the 5th
generation to carry on the tradition. Plastic tubing and a modern vacuum system
for our 2900 taps have replaced the buckets and tractor drawn gathering
tanks.
Our completely new sugarhouse still features a wood fired evaporator but also
utilizes a reverse osmosis process to reduce the wood needed and the time required
to boil the sap into the great tasting syrup that we produce.
Click here for some pictures of our new sugarhouse.
We invite you to stop in at the Putnam Family Farm and sugarhouse when you
are in the area. The farm is located on VT-15, two miles west of Cambridge
village. Smugglers Notch Ski Area is about
10 miles from the farm, and other ski areas are also nearby. So, if you are in
the area for spring skiing, look for steam from the sugarhouse on your way by!
If you have comments or questions, please feel free to contact
us. If your interest is Putnam genealogy, click
here for more information.
Return to the Putnam Family Farm homepage.