A sweet time at the Senate House
It’s maple syrup time and the Senate House State Historical Site celebrated the sticky and sweet sap colonial-style on Saturday.
Members of the First Ulster County militia joined historical interpreters from the Senate House to host a day of activities designed around the maple sugaring season.
Robyn Sedgwick, a historic site interpreter, made pumpkin cornmeal pancakes over an open fire, while another of the site’s interpreter’s made Jack wax, a sweet maple syrup treat made by pouring warm maple syrup over a block of ice. As the syrup cools, it is spun around a stick to form a sort of maple syrup lollipop.
Site manager Tom Kernan demonstrated how colonists would have made “spiles,” small hollowed out wooden pegs that were used to tap the maple trees, and Don Terpening, the First Ulster County militia’s physician, displayed the tools of the colonial physician’s trade, which included a hacksaw, bloodletting devices and two different implements that would have been used to pull teeth.
In the midst of it all sat a large caldron filled almost to the brim with maple sap, being cooked down over an open fire into maple syrup.
Most intriguing to the dozens of people who turned out for the event was the hunk of pork fat suspended on a hook above the sap. The pork fat, they were told, kept the sap from boiling over
“This is great,” said Doug Devoe, who had come from New Baltimore to spend the day with Kingston resident Barbara Graff. “It’s neat,” he said, adding with a laugh, “I’m glad I was born when I was.”
John and Paula Tobin drove up from Nyack because their daughter will be married at the Senate Garage in August and they wanted to show the venue to the groom’s parents.
Paula Tobin said she chose Saturday to make the trip because of the festivities at the Senate House.
Micah Segreti of Kingston, her mother Gayle Bender, of Austin, Texas, and Segreti’s children James Asher, 3, and Bella Asher, 18 months also stopped by for some colonialstyle fun.
“This is a field trip we might have taken in Texas,” said Bender. “Only they would have been making cane sugar.”
Although there was plenty to see and do, there was no question what Asher’s favorite part of the day was: “The lollipop,” he said.