C. George McLure
~ 1909-1994 ~
Founder of McLure's Honey & Maple Products

Continuing a family tradition that dated back 3 generations to Civil War times, George McLure produced and packed pure maple syrup in New Hampshire and Vermont. As a hobbyist, he tended to his business part time.

In 1976 when son, Dave came home to Littleton, NH after serving in the Air Force, he formed a partnership with his father, expanding the hobby to a full time business. They continued to work out of the family's basement as they increased their business.

Finally, the need for a bigger facility arose and a plant was built about 50 yards from the site of the original sugarhouse. Eventually, the McLure's were unable to meet the demands of their customers with their own production of maple syrup, so Dave focused his efforts on packing maple syrup, purchasing it from the New England region and Canada. (Although the McLure family no longer produced pure maple syrup to sell, they continued the family tradition by producing a small crop each spring for personal use.)

During the expansions of the business, Dave also saw a need for honey among his customers and added honey to his product line. McLure's now packs several varieties of honey, including cranberry and blueberry, which are native to New England.

The Plant

Under Dave's tenure as president, McLure's purchased two smaller companies. One, Moorland Apiaries, packed raw honeys for the natural foods market. McLure's continued packing raw honey under the Moorland Apiaries label. The other company, Bacon Jug Company, was the company from which Dave McLure purchased imprinted plastic jugs for his maple syrup. With this acquisition, the imprinting process moved in-house to Littleton, NH.

In February of 1997, Dutch Gold Honey, Inc. of Lancaster, PA, also a family-owned business, purchased McLure's Honey and Maple Products and Bacon Jug Company from the McLure family. Although Dutch Gold Honey oversees the business administration of McLure's, they continue to operate in Littleton, NH marketing products under the McLure's and Moorland Apiaries labels.

The View from McLure's