RSW's Diary Comments

A Google Maps screen capture of the area.
If you enlarge the map, you will see a tiny star. That
is the spot we believe the Keach sugar house sat.

Comments from Steaming Sugar House:

"Painted prior to 1930. A favorite painting of Herbert Keach's sugar house on a steep hillside. Bought from the old studio around 1931 or 1932 by my old Peoria school friend, Bess Oakford Hunter. Hanging in their home. Mr. and Mrs. Jay T. Hunter, 304 Parkside Drive, Peoria, Illinois."

Comments on the back of the sepia print:

"The bright clean color of the pails and snow and trees in the crisp cool air...... the trailing cloud of blue steam that makes such a lovely spot of color in the grove that climbs high up the hillside."

Editor's Note:

We believe this painting is linked to When Drifts Melt Fast. We think the painting above is made from the same maple grove and road, only this time the artist is looking down the hill. Larch and Brian visited this area recently (2024) and the scenery and views of the valley are amazing.

You can get a sense of what we are talking about if you look at the Google Map screen capture to the right. We whitened the road area we think is where the paintings are made. That long squiggly line is the driveway / road up to the Keach's Farm that literally clung to the side of a mountain, Snow Mountain, to be more specific, and near its peak of 1600+ feet no less! The context adds to the drama to Woodward's narrative in his study of this lifestyle.

Steaming Sugar House

This recently discovered painting (January 2017) is similar to but different, in both size and aspect ratio, from, Steaming Sugar House,. It is named and signed, however, the signature is lacking RSW's trademark red "S". It is also different in brush style which is finer and not impasto like Steaming Sugar House, suggesting it was painted later than it.

Maple Sugaring along side Steaming Sugar House

We here at the website wish to thank this painting's owner for contacting us and providing the pictures you see above. Without the gracious kindness of painting owners cooperation, this website would not be what it is.

A picture of the location where the sugar house
was that matches the landscape of both paintings.

A picture of the remaining foundation today. It is
hard to see in this view but should you enlarge the image
we provide you graphics to show the key area locations.

A picture of the stonewall and Avery Road. The
pile of rocks you see in this picture just off center to the
right are the stones of the rear foundation. The left is the
stonewall that to this day runs along Avery Road.

Herbert Keach's sugarhouse portrayed above is much like the whole farm, appearing to perilously be hanging for its life along a long slope. The farm itself was almost a fascination of Woodward's. We did the math. The bottom of the farm at Avery Road is 1,400ft and the top of it is 1,600ft. The length of the farm is 1,000ft giving it a grade of 20%. That is an incline of one foot for every 5ft of distance!

See Unnamed: Keach's Drama for perspective.

We stress this because we often fail to think beyond the question, "Who in the world would choose such harsh terrain to build a home and farm?" It seems ridiculous until some context is given, such as the land was probably cheap and all the Keaches could afford. All of the more expensive, prime, fertile, flat or at least flatter lands were either all taken up or too expensive, and it becomes clearer Woodward's interest.

Many of you probably do not know that the artist's favorite subject, something he believed to hold the key to understanding many social issues, was social economics. That area of study grew out of the trendy belief at the time, "the survival of the fittest," which was borne of Darwin's Theories of Evolution. While this trend focuses on the microcosm of the individual and their intelligence and background (race, religion, gender), Social Economics focuses on the Macro, larger picture of circumstances and opportunity, as well as situational supply and demand.

Those observing the "fitness" of the Keaches would say they were fool-hearty or unintelligent... and judge them harshly. Even some of Woodward's friends, like Mrs. Helen Patch, who laughed at the Keaches and called them "shiftless," which, if you do not know, means a combination of lazy and unambitious. Woodward did NOT see them that way, especially after all he had been through. In fact, we would say he identified with them quite a bit. The Keaches were "making do" with the resources they had available to them and surviving even though it appeared precarious.


No matter how they were doing it and under what circumstances, they were doing their best, and that, in the end, is all that matters. There is dignity in that, and that is really the subtext to all of the artist's portrayals of area homes and barns- that it does not need to be perfect to possess the grace of living and being alive. The Keach farm exemplifies that in many ways and is astutely understood by the artist in a wheelchair.

A little to the left of the painting above is this view. However, we believe that it was blocked by
huge old maple trees in Woodward's time... see At Sugaring Time and its view from Avery Rd. in the 1920s.