Maple Days 2024 are on february 17 and March 16
Did you know that West Virginia has approximately 164 million sugar maples—and our state is witnessing a full-blown maple movement? In an effort to champion this growing industry, members of the West Virginia Maple Syrup Producers Association open their sugarhouses in a statewide celebration that is more than meets the mouth. Show your love for West Virginia’s woodland economy by supporting this sweet tradition—pick a region, visit the participating sugarhouses, learn about the process, and grab a maple-inspired meal and drink. And if you are a sugarhouse or a supporting business and want to get in on the action, visit wvmpsa.org and sign up. We guarantee you’ll never look at syrup the same way again.
The 7th annual Mountain State Maple Days takes place on February 17 and March 16, 2024!
Here are a few itineraries to help you discover some of the area’s sugarhouse tours and special restaurants and businesses that are dishing out sweet maple menu items. For complete and up-to-date listings, visit wvmspa.org, where you’ll find an interactive map highlighting participating sugar camps and participating restaurants and businesses.
KNOWN FOR ICONIC ROCK OUTCROPPINGS LIKE SENECA ROCKS AND THE STATE’S HIGHEST POINT, SPRUCE KNOB, PENDLETON COUNTY IS MAKING A NAME FOR ITSELF IN THE MAPLE SYRUP INDUSTRY.
Make sure you visit historic McCoy’s Mill, where you can witness Luke Taylor-Ide of Future Generations University make sycamore syrup.
293 Thorn Creek Road
After visiting McCoy’s Mill, turn left on Dry Run Road and head up the hill to Loafer’s Glory Resort and Event Venue and Dry Run Spirits Distillery. Dry Run Spirits has distilled their maple tree water to make some incredible Maple Moonshine. Enjoy free tastings. While you’re there, you must take a short walk around their unique 190-acre property that includes an historic 1840s German Appalachian homestead—it’s one of the most incredible collections of original log structures in the state.
3576 Dry Run Road, Franklin, @dryrunspirits on Facebook
Visit nearby Cool Hollow Maple Farm. Established in 2013, this family-owned maple farm offers sugarhouse tours and samples. Don’t leave without purchasing some maple candy, maple cotton candy, and maple glazed nuts.
627 Cool Hollow Drive, Sugar Grove—on Sandy Ridge Road between Franklin and Moyers, @coolhollowmaplefarm on Facebook
Don’t miss M&S Maple Farm. Stop and tour their sugarhouse and sample their delicious maple products. If you begin your tour here, there will even be breakfast for the early birds. Be sure to grab a bag of their famous maple cotton candy.
44 Graystone Lane, Upper Tract, @msmaplefarm on Facebook
Jack Mountain Maple farm started as a hobby but has grown into a full-fledged business with around 500 taps. Take a tour, sample their syrup, and purchase baked goods.
Travel south on 220 from Franklin for 8 miles. Turn left onto Moyers Gap Road at Cave Country Store. Continue on Moyers Gap Road for approximately 1.3 miles. Creekside Drive will be on your right.
EAT AND DRINK
The Korner Shop Cafe, located on Main Street in Franklin, is a charming throwback to diner days. They will be serving pancakes, waffles, buckwheat cakes, and Texas french toast with local maple syrup.
The Franklin Moose Lodge is serving a specialty maple cocktail that you have to try and maple-flavored desserts. Don’t leave the area without stopping at Swilled Dog, one of the state’s premier cideries. Swilled Dog will have a Maple Old-Fashioned Cider on tap, and flights of cider will also be available. Dean’s Gap Farm will be serving maple BBQ on Feb 17. If you are at Seneca Rocks, Yokum’s Grill will serve buckwheat pancakes as well as regular pancakes with locally sourced Dry Fork Maple Works syrup all day long. And don’t worry—there will also be bacon, sausage, or ham to go with them.
Maple syrup is a natural companion to Preston County’s famed buckwheat cakes.
For a fun and easy day trip from Morgantown, head to Heasley Homestead Maple at Bruceton Mills between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. for a tour of the sugar bush and sugar house. Witness the process, sample different grades of syrup, let the children participate in a scavenger hunt, and tempt your tastebuds with maple candy. Don’t leave without buying some maple cotton candy, a jar of creamed maple, and a bottle or two of authentic West Virginia maple syrup. 2988 Compressor Station Road, Bruceton Mills, heasleyhomesteadmaple.com
In Aurora, Valley Farm Products offers tours, samples, and freshly tapped syrup for sale from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. You can even bring your own containers and they will fill them with syrup, saving you some dough for those pancakes! Traveling east on U.S. Route 50, pass through the village of Aurora, then turn left at the post office onto the Aurora/Terra Alta Pike. Go one mile to Shaffer Road and follow signs to the sugar camp. If it’s snowing, 4-wheel drive is recommended. 304.288.6148.
Visit the historic New Deal community of Arthurdale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for an outdoor syrup-rendering demo and maple products. 18 Q Road, Arthurdale, arthurdaleheritage.org
Eat and Drink
Grab lunch at the off-the-beaten-path microbrewery Screech Owl Brewing. It opens at noon. Be sure to try its “nearly famous” Maple Bourbon barbecue sauce and pastries topped with cream cheese maple icing. You’ll want to wash it all down with a Hoo’s Your Daddy IPA or a Buckwheat Honey Porter. 2323 Ralph Livengood Road, Bruceton Mills, screechowlbrewing.com
HOME TO THE STATE’S LARGEST WALNUT SYRUP PRODUCER, GRANT COUNTY IS TAPPING INTO MORE THAN JUST MAPLE.
If you want to taste and learn more about walnut syrup, then visit Mongold Walnut Farm in Petersburg. Baked goods and syrup will be available for purchase.
235 Getz Mountain Road, Petersburg, @MongoldWalnutFarm on Facebook
EAT AND DRINK
Stop at South Side Depot in Petersburg for a cup of coffee and maple donuts. You can also sample maple products such as syrup, coated nuts, and maple cakes. Another great spot to caffeinate and satisfy your sweet tooth is at The Grove Cafe and Bakery with a maple latte, maple pancake latte, or cupcakes flavored with locally sourced syrups. They also will have local syrups available for sale in the cafe. In Cabins, stop at Smoke Hole Caverns Resort & Gift Shop for a wide selection of maple syrup, maple leaf candy, and real maple leaf ornaments dipped in gold.
MAPLE SYRUP FLOWS THROUGH RANDOLPH COUNTY LIKE A RIVER.
Located three miles from Spruce Knob, the highest point in West Virginia, Spruce Knob Maple is the state’s largest maple syrup producer, with 3,000 to 4,000 gallons of liquid gold produced each year. Spruce Knob Maple is owned and operated by three generations of the Swartzentruber family. They tap approximately 16,500 trees. Take a tour and see how their pipeline allows the sap to run into the sugar house, where the sap is collected in one of two 10,000-gallon collection tanks before being run through their evaporator. Sample their pure maple syrup or their popular line of infused syrups.
1135 Dry Fork Road, Harman, spruceknobmaple.com
If you find yourself in the area on March 17-18, 2024, put the West Virginia Maple Syrup Festival in Pickens on your calendar. This tiny town comes alive with a pancake feed, arts and crafts, and music. @pickenswvmaplesyrupfestival on Facebook
EAT AND DRINK
Looking for a delicious made-from-scratch donut covered with maple frosting? Then stop by Byrd’s House of Donuts in Elkins. For a special treat, try the maple bacon donut.
And right down the street, Beander’s will be dishing out their special maple syrup wings. For a special treat and farm-to-bottle experience, visit Still Hollow Spirits in Harman. They collaborate with local maple syrup producers to make Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup and Maple Syrup Barrel Rested Corn Whiskey, both of which will be available for tasting and purchase.
TAKE A TRIP “WAY OUT WAYNE”—IT JUST GOT A LITTLE SWEETER WITH THESE LOCAL SUGAR HOUSES.
Toms Creek Family Farm, located a mile up Toms Creek Road from downtown Wayne, has been in the family for more than 100 years. The farm has transitioned from providing produce to sugaring and will provide demonstrations, tastings, and chainsaw carvings. 1340 Toms Creek Road, Wayne, @tomscreekfamilyfarm on Facebook
THE HIGHLANDS OF WEST VIRGINIA DON’T HAVE A MONOPOLY ON MAPLE SYRUP. CHECK OUT THESE FARMS FOR A SWEET TREAT.
Looking for authentic maple syrup and some tasty infused versions in southern West Virginia? Then visit Hill ’n Hollow Family Family Farm and Sugarworks in Lincoln County, where you can sample and purchase flavors like Apple Brandy, Bourbon Barrel, Amaretto, Ginger, Vanilla Bean, Cinnamon Stick, and Coffee Bean.
886 Garretts Bend, Griffithsville, “Hill n’ Hollow Family Farm and Sugarworks” on Facebook.
In 2005, Paul and Rachel Ronk moved back to their nearly 175-year-old family farm in Alum Creek and “brought it back to life.” Located just 20 minutes south of Charleston, the 100-acre Ronk Family Maple Farm has 25 acres tapped for maple syrup production. Enjoy a pancake breakfast, tapping demonstrations, and tours. Make sure you ask to see the state’s oldest bottle of maple syrup, made in 1859.
725 Whispering Pines, Alum Creek (GPS 38.29568° N, 81.82909° W) @ronkmaplesyrup on Facebook
Head to Big Ugly and take a tour and learn how to gather sap at Estep Branch Sugar Bush. Don’t leave without purchasing some of their delicious maple syrup and maple oatmeal cookies.
67 Estep Branch Drive, Harts @estepbranch.sugarbush on Facebook
HOME TO SNOWSHOE, CASS, AND GREEN BANK, POCAHONTAS COUNTY ALSO HAS A PLETHORA OF MAPLE FARMS TO VISIT.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT Pocahontas county maple days
Located on Route 92 south of Dunmore and north of Frost, Frostmore Farm Maple & More is the state’s second certified organic maple syrup business. Since purchasing the farm in 2011, the owners have gone from buckets to tubing, greatly expanding their production. They offer tours, tastings, and maple product sales that include maple syrup, maple cream, maple candy, infused maple syrup, maple cotton candy, and maple balsamic vinaigrette.
14141 Frost Road, Dunmore, @frostmorefarm on Facebook
Fort Warwick Farm, located off Route 28 near Green Bank, is a working horse farm that includes a militia fort built in 1774 by George Moffatts’ and George Matthews’ companies. They also make maple syrup in the traditional open-pan style using a flat pan handcrafted in the 1930s. More than 125 militia trained here before marching west, where they took part in the Battle of Point Pleasant. Tours, historical lectures on sugar and Fort Warwick, and maple products are offered.
450 Fort Warwick Passage, Green Bank, fortwarwick.com
Yew Mountain Center in Hillsboro is a 500-acre botanical sanctuary, community center, lodging and camping destination, and school. Bring the family and enjoy sugar bush tours, savory and sweet maple delights, and kids’ educational activities.
9494 Lobelia Road, Hillsboro, @yewmountain on Facebook
Interested in learning about more than just maple? In addition to maple, Hillsboro Maple Works has added sycamore to their repertoire. They offer sugar house tours and demonstrations that include sap collection, reverse osmosis, and wood-fired boiling, finishing, filtering, and canning syrup. Syrup and products will be available for sampling and for sale. To attend the February 18 open house at the sugar house, from Route 219 between Mill Point and Hillsboro, take Seebert Lane east 1/2 mile and turn right on Rose Road. Follow signs to Kelley Jones Drive, then turn left and travel to the last house on the left at the top of the hill. On March 18, the open house will happen at the sugar bush located on Seebert Road, just outside Seebert. Follow Seebert Road to the low-water bridge and turn left under the rail trail bridge and through the gate. Follow signs for parking. @hillsboromaple on Facebook
Located between Marlinton and Cass, Starry Night Farm owners Rick and Lisa offer tours of their sugar camp as well as retail sales of candy, cinnamon rolls, and maple syrup. They’ll explain how they built their reverse osmosis and vacuum filter system.
1647 Dee Friel Road, Cass
EAT AND DRINK
Arrive hungry in Pocahontas County—many area businesses will feature special maple menus. Enjoy a pancake breakfast at Pocahontas County Farmers Market at Fort Warwick Farm, and purchase tickets in advance for their special March 19 farm-to-table brunch. You’ll find Frostmore Farm’s maple syrup served at Dirtbean Cafe in Marlinton and Last Run Restaurant in Cass. Visit Station 2 Restaurant in Durbin for an all-day maple breakfast with all-you-can-eat pancakes and buckwheat cakes topped with Cassell’s Sugar Shack maple syrup. Head up to Snowshoe Mountain Village, where several restaurants will offer special menu items and handcrafted cocktails featuring locally made maple syrup. The Greenbrier Grille in Marlinton will serve freshly made maple donuts and more. And for more sweet treats, visit Mountain State Cakes bakery in Dunmore at the intersection of Routes 28 and 92 between Fort Warwick and Frostmore Farm’s sugar camps. You’ll find delicious maple glazed donuts, maple glazed cinnamon rolls, and maple cookies made from Sunrise Farms maple.
This Northern Panhandle county is home to an award-winning sugar shack.
Family Roots Farm overlooks Brooke Hills Park in Wellsburg. Aptly named, the farm has been passed through the Hervey family for eight generations. Tour this beautiful property, learn the sap-to-syrup basics, and fill a jug or two with their prized forest nectar. Time your trip to enjoy their first event of the season, Pancakes and Pajamas, a fun dinner filled with activities and a pancake bar. 245 Hervey Lane, Wellsburg, familyrootsfarmwv.com