SHELBURNE — Helen Gould, the woman behind one of Franklin County’s famed maple sugaring breakfast restaurants, died in her home on March 30. She was 96.

“Our family is proud of all the hard work and love that Mom shared with Dad, continuing our dairy farm and Gould’s Sugarhouse,” the Gould family wrote in a statement after Helen’s death.

Gould’s Sugarhouse on Route 2, which closed in 2020 just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, had a 60-year run and became known as a destination for visitors locally and internationally in the early springtime. Helen Gould was known to be the life source behind the sugarhouse. When reached this week, family members said they have no current plans for the closed restaurant.

As the lines and waits grew long during maple syrup season at the restaurant, community members recall how Helen Gould and her husband, Edgar, were always around, working with their staff to keep the buttery pancakes and maple syrup flowing.

“She was always fun, but she was seriously a hard worker,” said Shelburne resident Prudence Wholey, who worked at Gould’s Sugarhouse for 22 years. She mentioned it was not uncommon for three generations of Shelburne families to have spent time working at the sugarhouse.

“There is no doubt about it — she and her husband were a legacy,” said Keith Bardwell, president of the Massachusetts Maple Producers Association and owner of Brookledge Sugarhouse in Whately. In her earlier years, Helen Gould was a force in the Massachusetts Maple Producers Association, as well as an active member of the Shelburne Grange for about 65 years, working tirelessly as a farmer while building community amongst her peers.

Bardwell noted that over the course of Helen Gould’s time sugaring, the industry completely changed between a switch from traditional sap buckets to tubing that allowed farmers to tap trees farther into the woods, and the modern use of reverse osmosis machines, through which a semi-permeable membrane separates water and sugar molecules in the sap.

Still, Helen Gould was known for more than sugaring. In the winter, she could be found riding her snowmobile on all types of terrain.

“It was nothing to see her out on a snowmobile in the middle of nowhere,” said Shelburne resident Joe Judd, Gould’s friend. “It didn’t matter the time of day or night.”

In October, she was known to dress up in costumes and go trick-or-treating, despite being well above the age of the average trick-or-treater.

Judd went on to describe Gould as a local icon who always lit up the room. He attributed her kindness as the reason why people would came back season after season to Gould’s Sugarhouse.

“While you were there, you felt like part of the family,” he said. “That stretched beyond the borders of Shelburne.”

For Judd, who serves as town clerk, it was particularly enjoyable to chew the fat with Gould about politics.

“That was a really fun thing we always liked to do at the sugarhouse,” he said.

Having grown up in Greenfield, Gould “married a farm boy” and quickly embraced the farming lifestyle, Wholey said. Her son now runs their century-old farm, and many of her other children are still farmers in Shelburne.

According to her obituary, Gould is survived by five of her children as well as 10 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren. A private graveside service will be held at a later date at the convenience of the family. Monetary remembrances may be sent to the Shelburne Fire Department, 18 Little Mohawk Road, Shelburne, MA 01370.

Bella Levavi can be reached at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.

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