Rating the Suburbs: Sugar Suite

Chardon is paying a sweet tribute to its legacy in the maple syrup industry with the new Heritage House.

Designed to resemble a modern sugarhouse with plank siding and a shingle roof, the $600,000 2,200-square-foot structure will replace the 1962 one-room log cabin in the city's historic square this November.

An evaporator room featuring a functioning maple-syrup evaporator will eliminate the need to bring in a portable sugarhouse and evaporator for boiling sap during the Geauga County Maple Festival staged on the square each April.

Chardon Mayor Philip King plans to keep the evaporator room open to visitors while maple syrup is being produced, typically from February through April. Because the Heritage House serves as both a community space and a tourist attraction rooted in local history, it will accomplish what the log cabin never could, King explains.

"The square in Chardon has always been the focal point of this community," he says. "[Heritage House] will continue to highlight the importance that the square has for this community."