Faith Works 2-27-2026
Jeff Gill
Feeling part of a larger family in Licking County
___
60 years is a respectable run for almost any event, and I was caught by the reminder at The Dawes Arboretum of their Maple Syrup Day tradition.
Beman and Bertie Dawes began tapping maple trees in late winter of 1919 when they began what would become their family estate, Daweswood. Decades later, as The Dawes Arboretum, their son Beman Gates Dawes, Jr. would suggest to his fellow board members that they hold an old-fashioned "Maple Syrup Day" in February of 1966.
This caught my attention because my wife Joyce and I went out to Dawes in our first winter in Licking County, at the invitation of some active volunteers there who were active in our church at the time, as well as the legendary Al Cook, director of horticulture but also storyteller extraordinaire.
But in truth it was Marge and Jess Woolard, and Gerald Patton, who first told us we had to come out and learn about tapping trees for sap, as the days lengthened, the sun shone longer but nights still froze, all bringing up the sap from within the wood bearing the sweetness that would become, with great care and much effort, the maple syrup we all loved.
Our first must have been the 24th, and I dimly recall going back and helping for the 25th occasion of "Maple Syrup Day." Gerald loved to explain to kids about the passage of the sap in the tree, and through the spiles into the tube system they had started using instead of individual buckets, drawing multiple trees' worth of sap into barrels. The Woolards held court at the log cabin helping cook down the sap into syrup over an open fire in a vast iron kettle. The old evaporator used by the Dawes family was in a corner, no longer at work, but testimony along with a range of earthenware jugs of the mark left by Daweswood on the forest. Dawes maple syrup was a coveted gift: Beman and Bertie never sold any, and to be fair they had the Pure Oil Company to pay the bills. They just loved making maple syrup.
Today's Dawes Arboretum makes its own mark, teaching about trees, nature, and history. Part of that teaching is good stewardship, and part of that stewardship is… they don't tap arboretum trees for sap anymore. Well, just a few, gently, for teaching purposes. But tree tapping leaves scar tissue, and over time is not good for sugar maples, and an arboretum is about sustaining trees, not killing them.
But as I learned this, I also saw at this 60th anniversary old friends from Granville, Tom & Wendy Miller, whose maple sap was simmering on the fire in the familiar old kettle; syrup for tasting was from up by Utica. The Dawes family endeavor now covers the county.
And I will say that over thirty years ago after Joyce & I had been arboretum members & volunteers ourselves for a while, I wrote a piece for their newsletter about our new big backyard, 2000 acres worth. We lived in an apartment when we first came here, but Dawes gave us a piece of property we could get out into and explore and help manage. Later we'd be part of replanting the hedge lettering on the southern edge with new arborvitae spelling out "Dawes Arboretum."
Having met a few members of the Dawes family through the years, I know they stay connected to the former family homestead, and they've always made me feel welcome there. It's a working example of a faith concept common in Christian scripture, about "adoption." Becoming included in a family to which you were not born, but adopted into.
Families of faith, associations and organizations, all echo this idea. To be adopted, included, made welcome, in a place and as part of an effort that is ongoing. Including making maple syrup!
Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he's been adopted into a number of non-traditional families through the years. Tell him about how you've been adopted at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on X.
Jeff Gill
Feeling part of a larger family in Licking County
___
60 years is a respectable run for almost any event, and I was caught by the reminder at The Dawes Arboretum of their Maple Syrup Day tradition.
Beman and Bertie Dawes began tapping maple trees in late winter of 1919 when they began what would become their family estate, Daweswood. Decades later, as The Dawes Arboretum, their son Beman Gates Dawes, Jr. would suggest to his fellow board members that they hold an old-fashioned "Maple Syrup Day" in February of 1966.
This caught my attention because my wife Joyce and I went out to Dawes in our first winter in Licking County, at the invitation of some active volunteers there who were active in our church at the time, as well as the legendary Al Cook, director of horticulture but also storyteller extraordinaire.
But in truth it was Marge and Jess Woolard, and Gerald Patton, who first told us we had to come out and learn about tapping trees for sap, as the days lengthened, the sun shone longer but nights still froze, all bringing up the sap from within the wood bearing the sweetness that would become, with great care and much effort, the maple syrup we all loved.
Our first must have been the 24th, and I dimly recall going back and helping for the 25th occasion of "Maple Syrup Day." Gerald loved to explain to kids about the passage of the sap in the tree, and through the spiles into the tube system they had started using instead of individual buckets, drawing multiple trees' worth of sap into barrels. The Woolards held court at the log cabin helping cook down the sap into syrup over an open fire in a vast iron kettle. The old evaporator used by the Dawes family was in a corner, no longer at work, but testimony along with a range of earthenware jugs of the mark left by Daweswood on the forest. Dawes maple syrup was a coveted gift: Beman and Bertie never sold any, and to be fair they had the Pure Oil Company to pay the bills. They just loved making maple syrup.
Today's Dawes Arboretum makes its own mark, teaching about trees, nature, and history. Part of that teaching is good stewardship, and part of that stewardship is… they don't tap arboretum trees for sap anymore. Well, just a few, gently, for teaching purposes. But tree tapping leaves scar tissue, and over time is not good for sugar maples, and an arboretum is about sustaining trees, not killing them.
But as I learned this, I also saw at this 60th anniversary old friends from Granville, Tom & Wendy Miller, whose maple sap was simmering on the fire in the familiar old kettle; syrup for tasting was from up by Utica. The Dawes family endeavor now covers the county.
And I will say that over thirty years ago after Joyce & I had been arboretum members & volunteers ourselves for a while, I wrote a piece for their newsletter about our new big backyard, 2000 acres worth. We lived in an apartment when we first came here, but Dawes gave us a piece of property we could get out into and explore and help manage. Later we'd be part of replanting the hedge lettering on the southern edge with new arborvitae spelling out "Dawes Arboretum."
Having met a few members of the Dawes family through the years, I know they stay connected to the former family homestead, and they've always made me feel welcome there. It's a working example of a faith concept common in Christian scripture, about "adoption." Becoming included in a family to which you were not born, but adopted into.
Families of faith, associations and organizations, all echo this idea. To be adopted, included, made welcome, in a place and as part of an effort that is ongoing. Including making maple syrup!
Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he's been adopted into a number of non-traditional families through the years. Tell him about how you've been adopted at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on X.
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