r -~ - - r-~-----w- - - - - -.--~---,~ r ~.n. j - - W - ýWhItby FresPro"s, Wednescidy, Umah 30, 199O4,Page 7i Fogbound Sunday's fog hid the view from the lookout at Purple Woods Conservation area. From the vantage atop the ridges, you could see clouds of it in any direction. Spring had arrived in its own shroud. The idea had been this: we would visit Purple Woods, see the demonstration of the making of maple syrup, and sample some on pancakes. A spring picnic in the woods. "Loeok! A bridge!" This, when the children firet spy the lookout from the parking lot. They race ahead. But the lookout is now a bridge to nowhere. You can see the fog as clearly from the foot path. Baffled, the children return to our side. After fifty metres the woods swallow us. First, the staghorn sumac rear up. "Named because of its resemblance to a stag's horns " one guide had told us. "And used by pioneers to make spiggots for tapping maple trees." From the fork in the trail yeu can see the modern spiggots and plastic line from tree to tree. But the firat stop jumps 4.ck five hundred years. One guide had coaxed a reasonable fire to flame. In it,' she had placed several rocks. Beside this, a hollowed out log held a dirty looking liquid and three rocks, one still hot enough to sizzle. "This is how the native peoples made syrup"» said the guide. "It took about a week before they coi.d boil the sap down te syrup." "[Jgh! ltes dirty!" Children have no sense of history. Erin, eight, retelis the story of how natives discovered the sweet sap. How young warriors, practising tomahawk throws ef1 wunsin re How a young Tnother, on th ay to the creek to fetch water to make the evening meal, saw the liquid running down *the bark. She collected the sap. Later she colcked dinner in it. A new taste sensation was born. Further down the slippery, slopes we encounter a pieneer demonstration. Here, cast iron kettles steam over an open fire. Settlers, we are told, could boil down to syrup in three days. We continue down hiil. Sugar bush hils always run down. This is se, sugar shacks can collect sap by letting gravity do the work. We watch our footing on the snow-slick trail. Trees along the path hold galvanized sap pails. Chidren lift the lid s, furtively dip a finger. At the bottom, in the hollow in the woods, sits the sugar shack. Steam drifts from the roof vent into the fog. We do a quick examination. Sap in here, syrup out there. It is not a process to fascinate children. We order up service club pancakes, each serving with a haif cup of mmmmmm! maple syrup. There, under the drippings of snow xnelting from the tree tops high overhead, we picnic in the woods. We ail cleaned our plates. Next came the horse and wagon ride. Matthew, just two, had eyes for nothing else. "Herses!" Only he says it missing a consonant or two. The ride, jostling through the cathedral of the woods, serenaded by harness belîs, make a complete momning of a Sunday. We head back up the hill. Pancakes and syrup have made us all heavier. A Spring Sunday: a quick tour across five hundred years, complete with lunch, ail in two heurs cf a Sp ring Sunday. Few events can give us such a picture cf who we are and where we came from. Purpie Woods is located on Simcoe St. N. on the way to Port Perry. Maple syrup demonstrations continue until April 22. 1rET.EI ..IMr...lu FORMER RESIDENCE 0F WaH1TBY'8 FOUNDERPETER PERtRY, C. 1878, Peter Perry lived in this franie house which was once located behind W.C. Town Funeral Chapel on Dundas Street East. It was bricked over in 1900 and demolished in 1987. lhe people in the picture are Richard Hatch and bis family, who moved into the bouse about 184.Whiby Ar"aV«ephoto 10 YEARS AGO from the Wednesa, March 28, 1984 edition of the WIEMYFREE PRESS " Town council has decided flot to regulate 24-hour stores. " Downtown Whitby will receive a $130,000 facelift over the next four years. " Kamna] Curry, an honour student at Anderson Collegiate, will spend a year in Japan as p art of a Rotary Club exchange prograzn. " Education taxes will increase by $35.60 per household in 1984. 35 YEARS AGO from the WednescIay March 25, 1959 edition of the WHIBY EEIKLY NEWS " The federal governinent will carry out this year the biggest harbour improvement proran evr udertaken at Whitby. " EarleJake Bryant, Whitby Public Utilities Commissioner, was elected a director of the Ontario Municipal Electric Association. " Whitby's sewage disposai plant wîll be upgraded this year. " Arnold's Meat Market is advertising picnic bains for 39 cents a pound. 125 YEARS AGO from the Thur"Mac 25, 1869 edition of the WEWMYCHRONICLE " Horse races are being run on the ice at Port Whîtby. " Two young employees of the Whitby Foundry were fined $20 each or two months in jail for assault. " The volunteer.militîa men are holding a rifle match on Good F'riday. " Lewis Alin's book and stationeiy store provides ail the daily newspapers and latest k publications for sale.