I've attended many demonstrations over the years about how maple syrup is produced. I thought I learned everything about maple syrup in Northwestern Pennsylvania. I was wrong. I found out that an award-winning children's book was written in the 1950s by a well-known author. That book was inspired by a maple farm near Edinboro.

I'm at Hurry Hill Maple Farm and Museum on Fry Road. It’s about four miles from Edinboro. Yes, this place offers demonstrations on how maple syrup is made, but it also provides a lot of history about the maple syrup industry in Erie and Crawford counties. One very interesting piece of history is a book that was written by renowned author Virginia Sorensen when she lived in Edinboro in the 1950s. It's titled Miracles on Maple Hill and it's had a profound effect on Hurry Hill owner Janet Woods since she was a kid.

"I make maple syrup,” she says. “So I thought this should be a book that is preserved because it is about making maple syrup. It's very true to the process of making maple syrup. When anybody visits here and they've read the book, everything in the museum makes sense to them."

Miracles on Maple Hill is a fiction book. However, all the characters in the book were inspired by people who lived near Edinboro. It's about a family that moved to Edinboro from Pittsburgh, including a young girl named Marly and her troubled father.

"And they were coming to Edinboro,” explains Janet. “As Marly said, 'We're hoping this fixes him'...her father. Making maple syrup and being out in nature will help the father and that they would become a family again."

The maple syrup museum at Hurry Hill Farm has a large section devoted to the book. I’m learning about the Edinboro area residents that inspired the characters. There's several pictures of them including a real-life hermit.

"He had goats. He kept bees. He had honey and he made wooden chains just as something to barter,” says Janet.

The book won the prestigious Newbery Award. The Newbery Medal is presented annually to the author of the Best Children's Book. Every visitor to the museum can hold Virginia Sorensen's actual medal. Theresa Gamble is the long-time project manager at the museum. She enjoys watching people react to the medal.

"What’s fun to see are children holding the medal and passing it around. English teachers getting teared-up. School librarians getting teared-up when they actually touch and hold that medal,” says Theresa.

It's a special season in this area. It’s a great time to learn about this special book. To be clear, Hurry Hill was not the farm that inspired the book. That farm was located in the area near the Mount Pleasant Ski Resort. By the way, this weekend is a great time to visit Hurry Hill Maple Farm and Museum. The farm is taking part in the Northwest Pennsylvania Maple Taste and Tour Weekend being held Saturday and Sunday, March 15 & 16. The hours are from 10 to 4. The address is 11424 Fry Road, Edinboro.