About

Puffenbarger’s Sugar Orchard has been in operation for over 100 years. Ivan Puffenbarger started helping his father, Melvin, when he was too little to do much. When Melvin operated the orchard, he drilled trees with an auger operated by hand, collected the sugar water in buckets, and carried those buckets by horse to the sugar house. He would only make about 10 gallons of syrup a day, which was very good in that era. Ivan helped his father until he married his wife, Sis. They decided to purchase the maple syrup business from Melvin in 1959, and they immediately set out to make substantial changes. Their main focus was on increasing production. Ivan and Sis built a new sugar house and began using a tractor to tow barrels of sugar water back to the sugar house. They went from 250 buckets collected each day to about 1,000, and it took eight men most of the night to collect all of the water. Ivan’s son, Doug, is the current owner upon Ivan’s passing in July of 2019. Today, Puffenbarger’s Sugar Orchard is one of the most state-of-the-art sugar camps in Highland County. During the month of March and maple season in general, you can call 540-474-2770. The rest of the year, you can call Doug and his wife, Terri, at 540-474-5712.  Visit their website!

17 Maple Syrup Lane, Blue Grass