LUDLOW, Vt. – In March of 1985, Ann and Doug Rose took over the Green Mountain Sugar House (GMSH), located at 820 Vermont Route 100, from Ann’s parents Marjorie and David Harlow. Ann recalled that she and Doug signed the papers while they were at the store, boiling sugar for maple syrup.
Ann and her siblings grew up working at the Sugar House, and Ann was running the gift shop for her parents by 1974, when she was 19 years old. “They both had other jobs,” Ann explained with a shrug.
The Rose’s store and sugar house has become a favorite destination for visitors to the Okemo Valley, as well as a local institution, and, as Doug said, “the only agricultural business left in Ludlow.” Their customers return year after year for freshly tapped Vermont maple syrup, homemade maple candy treats, maple creemee ice cream, and lovingly curated Vermont products. Over the past 40 years, Ann and Doug raised three children, and expanded both the scope and footprint of GMSH, which sits on the peaceful shores of Lake Rescue.
Now, at 70 years of age, Ann and Doug feel it is time to pass the business on to the third generation – their son Josh, his wife Jamie, and their three sons: 6-year-old Smith, 3-year-old Vaughn, and Zeland, 18 months.
Josh grew up working “the woods” with his dad, meaning he learned firsthand how to maintain the more-than-180 tap lines owned and operated by GMSH. Josh still remembers the first time he asked his father to allow him to drill a tap.
“They were old gas tappers called Tanakas,” Josh recalled. “I remember following Doug for a long time, and finally I asked, ‘Do you mind if I drill a hole?’”
Doug asked Josh if he was sure he felt ready, and Josh said he was. “So, I picked a good spot, I drilled a nice hole, then I [realized] the drill was kind of heavy, so I went to hand it back to Doug…‘No, that’s yours,’ Doug said. ‘That’s yours now.’”
“Summers at the lake, summers in the woods,” Josh reminisced. He looks forward to his boys having the same memories of their childhood. Just like their father and grandfather, the Rose boys enjoy learning about and helping with the tapping process.
“I love it when Josh takes the boys to the woods,” Jamie remarked. “Smith will come back and tell me, ‘I fixed three lines this time, Mom, three lines!’”
It was three years ago when Josh became operations manager of the woods, allowing Doug to step away from that part of the process, which is more involved, and more technical, than one might imagine. The current technology used to track the tap lines works via an application accessed by cell phone or smart television, allowing the monitoring of lines without having to physically inspect each one. If there is a problem detected, the system will pinpoint the exact location, which is a huge labor and time saver.
The mountainous terrain of the two tapping locations in South Reading can be difficult to traverse, and the family has given names to different sections, such as Death Mountain, Upper Death Mountain, and The Lost Valley.
Josh and Jamie are preparing to step in as of January 2026, and will slowly transition into full ownership. “We’re going to work for them on a part-time basis,” Ann said.
The mechanics of managing such a large agricultural business are complicated, and Josh and Jamie will need more time for on-the-job training. For instance, the reverse osmosis process adopted by Ann’s parents in the 1970s requires a machine that now only Doug knows how to operate.
Ann has developed the candy-making business completely on her own, so she will be sharing her secret recipes with Jamie beginning next year.
“There is no recipe book,” Jamie said, laughing. “There is nothing written down, it’s all word of mouth. But,” she added with a sweet nod to her mother-in-law, “I will be learning from the best.”
“When I met Josh,” Jamie commented, “I knew I was marrying the Sugar House.” However, Jamie also said that when the couple first met, there was “no retirement in sight for Ann and Doug, and they seemed like people who may never retire.” Jamie feels a duty to maintain the traditions of quality and customer service that has been established at GMSH.
Ann said that once she and Doug are finally able to walk away, knowing they are leaving their business in capable and caring hands, they would like to travel. She relayed that her parents had visited all 50 U.S. states, and even though her father was a “true Vermonter” who loved winter sports like skiing and snowmobiling, “his most favorite state to visit was Hawaii. That’s what we hope to do this coming year, take a trip to Hawaii.”