Over the winter, Clinch River State Park and community partners took to the woods to tap trees on Sugar Hill to produce syrup. 

The one-day tapping event was more than just a sweet endeavor, it was the first to take place on Sugar Hill in roughly 70 years. Resuming this tradition honors the families that relied on the natural resources of Sugar Hill to survive hundreds of years ago and highlights the park’s commitment to preserving and interpreting the region’s past. 

The history of Sugar Hill 

The chimney on Sugar Hill

While Clinch River State Park is still under development, the Sugar Hill Unit in St. Paul has been open since 2019. It’s nearly 370 acres and offers a little more than 8 miles of hiking trails, 2 miles of river frontage and a picnic shelter.  

The property has significant cultural and historical attributes, including remnants of an 18th-century French settlement. The area, marked today by a standing chimney, was once called St. Marie on the Clinch. 

According to a journal entry in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, the St. Marie tract was acquired in the 1700s by Sebastian Hatler Bickley, who renamed the area Sugar Hill. He developed a grain and cattle farm and utilized the maple trees on site for sugarmaking.  

The property stayed in the Bickley family for many years, and records show that the family was still producing maple syrup and sugar off the land in the 1930s. 

The Bickley family eventually sold the property, which was operated as a farm until it was purchased by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. 

The science behind the sap 

Maple syrup tapping begins when the nights are still cold, but the days start to warm. The freeze-thaw cycles create pressure inside the trees, causing sap to flow. It’s this clear, watery liquid that gets collected and eventually boiled down into the golden syrup we all know and love. 

At Clinch River, tapping took place on January 30, led by Virginia Master Naturalists Paxton and Chris Allgyer and Wise County Extension Agent Phil Meeks, with support from park rangers. Here’s the process they followed. 

The process of making maple syrup

1. Selecting the trees 

This year, the team tapped sugar maples and black walnuts but is considering adding sycamores in 2026. They selected 11 trees that gradually went downhill so that they could create a gravity flow area known as a “sugar stand.” The trees were located just off Sugar Hill Loop Trail about 0.2 miles from the French settlement area. 

2. Tapping the trees 

The team drilled holes about 1.5 to 2 inches deep upward into the trees. Then, they inserted a spile, gently tapped it in place and inserted food-safe piping. The 11 trees gravity-fed sap into a food-safe collection barrel over six weeks, and in total, roughly 70 gallons of sap was collected. 

3. Turning sap into syrup 

The first step is to boil the water off, which concentrates the sugars in the sap. The team did this by using an outdoor wood-fired evaporator. Once the sugar content of the water that was boiled off was zero, the team moved the sap indoors to the stove to finish boiling. 

The next step was to wait until the sap reached the correct temperature and consistency, 7 degrees Fahrenheit above the boiling point of water or about 66–67% sugar content. 

After this was achieved, the final step was to filter the sap to remove the minerals that precipitated during boiling, also known as sugar sand. 

After filtering, you have syrup that’s ready for eating. 

Fun fact: It takes roughly 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. 

4. Bottling 

The syrup was bottled hot, around 180 degrees Fahrenheit, into sterilized containers. The jugs were placed on their sides to seal the caps. 

When it was all said and done, the team was able to bottle a little over 1 gallon of maple syrup. VMS Paxton Allgyer called the finished product, “delicious, delightful and delectable.” 

The future of maple syrup at Clinch River State Park 

The trees selected for tapping in 2025

Following this year’s successful syrup tapping, Clinch River State Park, High Knob VMN and Wise County Extension will continue the operation in 2026.  

They’re going to expand their efforts and open next year’s tapping, evaporation and cooking days to the public, so they can take part in the tradition that celebrates the region’s natural and cultural resources. 

In the meantime, guests can find signage along Sugar Hill Loop Trail and in the sugar stand area that explains the tapping process. 

Clinch River State Park would like to thank the following partners for their role in the 2025 tapping operation. Wise County Extension Agent Phil Meeks, Extension Office Volunteer Bill Worrell, High Knob VMN members Jessica Long, Paxton Allgyer, Chris Allgyer and Joan Dosier and Director of the UVA Wise Oxbow Center Jamie Rose. 

Plan your visit to Clinch River State Park 

The hiking trails at the park’s Sugar Hill Unit are open to the public daily from 6 a.m. to dusk.  

In addition to hiking, you can fish from the park’s river frontage or launch a boat from one of its three boat launches. 

According to the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, the Clinch River contains more fish species than any other river in Virginia, including smallmouth bass, spotted bass, rock bass, sunfish, crappie, walleye, musky, freshwater drum, longnose gar, channel catfish and more. The river is also home to nearly 50 species of mussels and hundreds of non-game fish. 

Whether you’re boating or fishing you must follow Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources' rules and regulations.  

To learn more and start planning your visit, please go to www.virginiastateparks.gov/clinch-river.