The Maple Trail & Catskill Sugarhouses

Eighteen maple producers span 17 counties in the Almanac's directory — fifth- and sixth-generation sugarhouses still boiling over wood fire, apiaries tucked into the Helderberg hills, and a handful of towns where three or four operations sit close enough to visit in one afternoon. Maple Weekend each spring (the third and fourth weekends of March) is when most of these open their doors wide, but many run pancake breakfasts and tours well beyond it.

The Greene County heart

Partridge Sugar House in Ashland has made Catskill Mountain maple since 1898 — roughly 2,500 taps, wood-fired, no filter additives or chemical defoamers, now with a sixth generation coming up. Nearby, Maple Glen Farm in East Jewett and Maple Hill Farms in Prattsville both run honor-system and small farm-stand operations on the mountaintop, and Fox Farm Apiary's Cornell Master Beekeeper keeps hives at Olana and regional land trusts across five counties.

Salem, Washington County — three in one town

Salem alone carries three producers. Wild Hill Maple has made award-winning syrup since 2002, Mapleland Farms is a five-generation operation tapping over 600 acres, and Dry Brook Sugar House runs a pancake-and-sausage breakfast with horse-drawn wagon rides during Maple Weekend.

Thurman, Warren County — the Adirondack sugarbush belt

Toad Hill Maple Farm taps over 3,000 sugar maples across nearly 900 acres of timberland with a timber-frame sugarhouse, and Valley Road Maple Farm runs 3,400 vacuum-fed taps nearby — Thurman is one of the densest concentrations of sugarhouses in the Adirondacks.

Elsewhere in the belt

• Catskill Mountain Maple — DeLancey, Delaware County. 50-plus years in the business on a 140-acre farm; also a full-service CDL maple equipment dealer.
• Crown Maple at Madava Farms and Soukup Farms — Dover Plains, Dutchess County. Crown Maple is an 800-acre estate operation with tours and tastings; Soukup has run since the 1950s with over 2,000 taps.
• Mill Hollow Maple — Mount Vision, Otsego County. USDA Certified Organic, taps 6,000 trees, fires a timber-frame sugarhouse with wood felled on the property.
• Partridge Run Farm and Apiary — Berne, Albany County. Raw wildflower honey and beeswax candles from bees foraging the unsprayed Helderberg hilltowns.
• Skinner's Sugarbush — Wynantskill, Rensselaer County. Family operation since 1990, open with sugarhouse tours during Maple Weekend.
• Maple Valley Farm — Saratoga. Sixth-generation, 30-plus years welcoming the public with a full pancake breakfast, hayrides, and live music on Maple Weekend.
• Maple Hill Syrup Farms and Buck Hill Farm — Schoharie County. Both six-generation operations with country stores, wood-fired evaporation, and year-round tours.

A few practical notes

NYS Maple Weekend runs the third and fourth weekends of March — check each farm's page for exact hours since many are honor-system or by-appointment outside that window. Sugaring season itself runs roughly February through early April depending on the year's freeze-thaw cycle. Several of these farms cluster tightly enough (Salem, Thurman, Greene County's mountaintop) to make a single-town visit worthwhile even outside Maple Weekend.

Explore more of the region's theme guides on Explore by Theme, or pair a sugarhouse stop with A Saturday on the Mountaintop or A Saturday in the Battenkill Valley.

Wood smoke, a hot griddle, and a jar to bring home — the shortest, sweetest season in the Almanac.