Tucked into the Allegheny Mountains along the West Virginia border, Virginia’s Highland County is home to 10 working sugar camps where the sap from sugar maple trees is collected and boiled into liquid gold. The camps operate seasonally, relying on the freeze-thaw rhythm of late winter to coax the sap from the trees.
Since 1959, visitors have flocked to the annual Highland County Maple Festival to witness the “opening of the trees,” to see how sap becomes syrup and to celebrate a way of life that hasn’t changed much in generations. March marks the festival’s 66th year, when upwards of 60,000 visitors are expected in the town of Monterey and the surrounding area. The 2026 festival is scheduled for March 14-15 and March 21-22.
As I began planning a visit in 2025, I realized there was far too much going on for just one day, so my son Max and I made a weekend of it. We drove down from Ashburn, visiting five sugar camps on Saturday, overnighting in Staunton (lodging in Highland County is limited) and continuing our sticky-sweet adventure on Sunday.
The moment we turned off Interstate 81 in Mount Crawford and headed west, leaving the tractor trailers behind, I felt a sense of calm. The road meandered through misty valleys, past red barns and rolling ridges. The farther we drove, the more the noise of modern life faded away…