ORFORD, N.H. (AP) – The group that represents New Hampshire maple syrup producers is making plans for the mother of all sap houses — a New Hampshire maple sugar museum.

The New Hampshire Maple Producers Association has received a gift of the largest collection of antique sugaring tools and equipment in North America, and is trying to find a place to put it. Its vice president, Peter Thomson of Orford, says money is being raised to provide a fire-safe building to temporarily store the artifacts while the group plans a permanent museum.

The collection is a gift from Charlie Stewart of Sugar Hill, who has been collecting the artifacts for many years, Thomson said. “We need to get the artifacts out of his barn and into a container, and we need to catalog everything so we know what we have,” Thomson said.

“This collection is a real jewel, and it’s worth a great deal of money,” Thomson said. “New Hampshire is lucky to have it.”

Stewart spent years going to auctions and visiting antique stores to build the collection. “He’s got over 200 sap yokes of every different size,” Thomson said. The yokes, which were used to carry buckets of sap from the sugarbush to the sugarhouse, would sell in antique stores for $300 to $400, depending on the size.

Stewart also has evaporators going back to those used hundreds of years ago by Native Americans to boil the sap. “The wheels are in motion to get this thing going,” Thomson said.