Sugar Cane Mill and Museum

About the Sugar Cane Mill and Museum

Located in the municipality of Calheta, on the southwest coast of the Island of Madeira, the Sugar Cane Mill and Museum focuses on one of the most important productive activities in the History of the archipelago. Sugar, which was once called 'white gold', continues to be a product of great relevance to the region.

The Sociedade dos Engenhos da Calheta was established between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, in a context of great industrial development. The sugar cane mill found in this place is therefore one of the oldest on the island.

The Sugar Cane Mill and Museum has as its central mission the recreation of the rich history of this factory. It is therefore the ideal place to get in touch with the activity of transforming sugar cane into honey or 'aguardente', two regional products of enormous national and international projection.

To this end, the Sugar Cane Mill and Museum displays a series of pieces from the 19th and 20th centuries, which constitute authentic industrial archaeological artefacts. In addition, visitors have access to the exhibition of a bilingual film and various graphics alluding to the sugarcane production process, going through its various stages: harvesting, transportation, milling, fermentation, distillation and bottling.