Sugar-on-Snow and maple cooking demos

New Hampshire Maple Experience Returns to The Rocks

Program features Sugar-on-Snow, Facebook photo contest, and maple cooking demos

BETHLEHEM, N.H.—The New Hampshire Maple Experience returns to The Rocks Estate this spring, showcasing the sweet tradition of sugar making with hands-on learning and tasty treats.

Owned by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, The Rocks partners each year with area inns and other businesses to celebrate maple sugaring season. The Maple Tour includes an interactive step-by-step demonstration of crafting maple syrup, complete with a visit to the onsite sugar house. New to the program this year is the option to enjoy sugar-on-snow, where syrup is heated and drizzled over snow to create a toffee-like concoction that’s sure to satisfy your sweet tooth.

“With the Maple Experience, we strive to provide a fun, educational program for visitors of all ages, while collaborating with other area businesses to showcase the beauty and creativity of our area,” said Nigel Manley, longtime Rocks Estate manager. “We keep the Maple Experience fresh by adding new features each season.”

A horse-drawn wagon ride through the historic 1,400-acre estate, and a syrup tasting – complete with the requisite sour pickle – make the Maple Tour a delight of the senses. In honor of the traditional pairing of sweet syrup and sour pickle – and the requisite “sour pickle face” – this year The Rocks will hold a Facebook competition featuring photos of Maple Experience visitors enjoying the delicious sweet-and-sour combination.

Also new this season is the “Taste of New Hampshire Maple,” featuring a variety of local chefs who will give cooking demonstrations at The Rocks during the Maple Experience. Each chef will prepare a recipe that incorporates maple syrup. Onlookers will be invited to sample the finished product, and each recipe will be printed and available for visitors to take home.

The New Hampshire Maple Experience is scheduled for March 17, 24, 25, and 31, April 1 and 7, with tours taking place throughout the day. Reservations are highly recommended, but walk-ins are welcome on a space available basis.

During the tour, visitors will learn how to identify the sugar maple trees that produce the sweet sap for making syrup, discover the history of maple sugaring, and see part of the process demonstrated by fourth-generation sugar maker Brad Presby.

The Maple Experience also includes a visit to the interactive maple museum and education center featuring maple sugaring artifacts from the extensive collection of legendary Sugar Hill sugar maker Charlie Stewart. The museum and sugar house are in one of the many historic Rocks Estate buildings restored for modern use.

The Rocks staff will be serving up piping hot pancakes for hungry visitors, as well as selling mixes from the famous Polly’s Pancake Parlor in Sugar Hill. Maple Experience visitors will receive coupons to Polly’s, which will open early this year, on March 17. Polly’s will be open weekends through May 12, when it begins daily operation through the fall.

Kingdom Kettle Korn will be popping and selling its delicious maple kettle corn at The Rocks during Maple Tours. Local businesses Lahout’s and Chutters help sponsor the Maple Experience.

For those looking to turn the Maple Experience into a weekend-long North Country stay, The Rocks is again partnering with local inns to offer weekend vacation packages. Visit www.therocks.org/vacations.php to find participating lodging establishments.

Fall Wonders at The New Hampshire Maple Experience

Maple trees provide us with many gifts through the year: sweet maple syrup in the spring, cool leafy shade in summer, and an array of brilliant colors in autumn. Fall foliage season is a beautiful time to visit the New Hampshire Maple Experience, located at the historic Rocks Estate. Wander the wooded trails, filled with a kaleidoscope of color, en route to the Maple Museum, where you'll enjoy a virtual tour of the sugar making process in the sugar house, learn some of the intriguing history of sugaring, and examine some of the tools of the trade.

Also well known as a Christmas tree farm, The Rocks Estate will be open for tag-your-own Christmas tree on weekends from Sept. 24 through Oct. 16. Visitors may wander the neat rows of fir trees and select one to harvest for holiday trimming. Tagged trees may be cut from Nov. 19 through Dec. 24.

During tag-your-own weekends, the Marketplace at The Rocks and The Rocks farm store will be open for early holiday shopping. The Marketplace features a variety of items from local artisans, as well as several Fair Trade gifts. The farm store is brimming with jams and jellies, Rocks Estate t-shirts and mugs, holiday ornaments and decorations, and – of course – maple syrup made produced from our own sugar maple trees!

Maple Experience Opens June 1st!

The tree taps and metal buckets are put away until next spring, and this year’s collection of pure New Hampshire maple syrup has been bottled, but visitors to the beautiful and historic Rocks Estate this summer can still enjoy the New Hampshire Maple Experience.

Self-guided maple tours open June 1^st and run through Columbus Day weekend. Maple lovers may follow the signs to the Maple Museum, housed in one of the many historically renovated buildings at The Rocks. The museum is divided into two sections: the sugar house, where visitors enjoy a video tour of the maple sugaring process; and the museum, chock-full of historic sugaring artifacts and descriptions of the history and process of turning the sap of sugar maple trees into sweet maple syrup and sugar.

The Rocks is open daily from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., and self-guided tours are available during those hours. The Maple Experience is also open to groups and bus tours. Call 603.444.622or email info@TheRocks.org for more information.

New Hampshire Maple Experience Returns in June!

Thanks to the hundreds of visitors who enjoyed our Maple Tours during the sugaring season! If you missed out, not to worry – the New Hampshire Maple Experience will return in June with tours for school groups, bus tours, and individuals.

While the sap only flows in the early days of spring, and maple syrup production generally ends in April, the New Hampshire Maple Experience allows visitors to enjoy and learn about sugaring from June through Columbus Day. Beyond the museum, where generations of sugaring tools are on view, along with descriptions of the history of maple sugaring, visitors during the summer and fall are treated to a virtual tour of the sugaring process in the sugar house.

The sugar house and the museum are snugged into one of many historic buildings on The Rocks Estate, owned by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. The turn-of-the-20^th Century Sawmill/Pigpen building was restored and remodeled specifically to house the New Hampshire Maple Experience.

For more about the summer and fall tours, please visit our website  and maple tours page.