Davenport Maple Farm

The first pioneer to live on this farm was Nathan (Peter) Peck whom build a house 200 years northwest of the present Davenport Farm in 1770 The first home built on the present site of the Davenport home was build by Josiah Dole in 1793. Over the years there were severial owners: James and Pliny Bishop 1858; Gardner Severance 1862; Luther Franklin 1865; and Luther Truesdell 1890. Walter Davenport bought the farm from Elliot Truesdell in 1913. At the time it was a working dairy farm and the pastures and fence lines were dotted with large sugar maple trees indicating that the maple syrup had probably been produced dating back to the first settlers. The sugarhouse Walter used was located near the farmhouse and served as the ice house during the winter. After electricity came in 1927, the sugarhouse was moved down to the foot of the sugar woods. A lean-to was build on the south side of the sugarhouse to house a new evaporator. About 1940 Maurice Davenport replaced the lean-to with a large frame building to a house a 4x12 foot Leader evaporator, while still using the original icehouse as the wood shed. In 1964 Russel Davenport and his wife Martha built a new sugarhouse (number 4) on the road to the fire tower. Two oil-fired evaporators were installed to boil the syrup. These dual evaporators enabled production to be increased, with the best year producing 2250 gallons. At that time they were also buying sap from others. The reverse osmosis machine (the first in Massachusetts) was purchased in 1980 and is still being used today. In 1990 with the help of our extended family, the present sugarhouse (number 5) with restaurant was built. New ideas and innovations have made it the most modern sugarhouse in the state. In 2003 a new set of tigwelded stainless-steal evaporator pans were in place. These pans allow the circulation in the pan to be reversed while keeping the draw-off of the finished syrup on the same side. Many years we served more then 3000 people a sugarhouse breakfast using Davenport Pure Maple Syrup.