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If you're interested in learning about maple sugaring, you don't have to travel all the way up to Vermont to do so. Locally, Coggeshall Farm in Bristol will be hosting a Maple Sugaring Weekend Feb. 18-19. Visit anytime between 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on either day to get a hands-on experience.

"We're the only place in the state where people can learn about making maple syrup using late eighteenth-century techniques," says Justin Squizzero, director of historical interpretation at the farm.

A pile of historical books about Rhode Island's heritage surrounds Squizzero as he reveals tidbits about the Ocean State's complicated past involving sugar trade. Not only will guests learn about the maple sugaring process, he says, but they'll also discover Bristol's past and how it played a huge role in sugar and rum trade, and unfortunately, slave trade.

Visitors will tap the trees themselves by drilling holes into the trunks with wooden spiles. Troughs made from hollowed-out tree logs will sit on the ground below to collect the sap, which will then be boiled down using large pots and kettles filled with water, set over a roaring outdoor fire.

"When people think about the traditional process, they think of metal buckets nailed to the trees, but we'll show how we tap closer to the ground, so that the troughs can collect the sap," he says.

Watch a video tour of the farm below.

The Details: Feb. 18-19. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Adults $8; seniors and children (six to twelve) $5; children under 5 free. Coggeshall Farm, 1 Colt Dr., Bristol, 253-9062, coggeshallfarm.org.