“Poultney Remembers” Lecture Series was a Success MapleFest Weekend!

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“The Many Meanings of Maple“

The Poultney Historical Society received a great turnout at The Meeting House for Poultney’s Maplefest celebration on Saturday, March 25th. At 1:00pm, Green Mountain College students presented posters to the public as part of their maple sugaring research project in coordination with the Poultney Historical Society and the college’s Ethnographic Field Methods class. The students researched, visited, and interviewed local maple suagrmakers in Poultney.

Over twenty people visited for this informational session to discuss the posters and to ask the students questions about their findings and about the local sugarmakers. There was also an exhibit featuring old taps and tap buckets from the Pam and Rich Green of Green’s Sugarhouse. Visitors viewed the exhibits and posters and sampled maple syrup that was collected from tress on GMC campus by the College’s Controller Greg Manchester and boiled down the road.

At 2:00pm, over thirty visitors came to see Vermont Humanities Council sponsored speaker Michael Lange present “The Many Meanings of Maple“, an ethnographic journey through the many ways people in Vermont and around the world attach meaning to maple and Vermont as a whole. Throughout his talk, Lange revealed a myriad of meanings attached to maple including the influence tourists have that come to Vermont to specifically try the maple syrup because, “it is the Vermont thing to do.”

Lange also passed around empty containers that once held maple products and asked everyone in attendance to point out some differences they saw in the labels and pictures found on the containers. A Vermont container had an outline of the state with a tap sticking out of it, perpetrating the idea that maple syrup represents Vermont. Throughout the lecture, he also referenced the posters the students made and congratulated them on creating a perfect representation of his research on maple sugarmaking. The lecture ended around 3:30pm.

The Poultney Remembers programs are all free, accessible to people with disabilities, and open to the public.  For further information visit the Poultney Remembers Lecture Series page of our website, call the Poultney Historical Society at 287-5252, or email [email protected].