Sugar Shack

Sugar Shack. . , The sugar shack was a traditional sight on many Midwestern and Northeast U.S. farms. Here, sap from sugar maple trees tapped nearby was boiled down to make maple syrup, a craft settlers learned from Native Americans in the area. In the early days of our country, maple syrup was promoted as an alternative to cane sugar and was the only sweetener some families used. It takes 40 gallons of sap to produce a gallon of maple syrup. , , This building was built in 2010 with lumber cut on site by the sawmill crew and assembled by the volunteers of the Thumb Octagon Barn. On display, is a wood-fired evaporator pan made by Leader Evaporator. Such pans were first used in the Civil War era as an improvement upon large cast iron kettles. The same evaporator was used in the South and Lower Midwest to make sorghum syrup from sorghum juice since the crop was introduced from Africa in the 1850's. On the south side of the building is a sorghum press made by the Chattanooga Plow Company used to extract juice from the canes. About 10 gallons of juice make a gallon of sorghum syrup.