Sugar Cane Museum

The Sugar Cane Museum in Calheta is an important museum, where the whole story of one of the most important activities of the island of Madeira of the nineteenth century is exposed: the transformation of cane sugar.

The museum recreates the history of the factory, entitled as the Mill of Calheta. It was established in 1901. Visitors have the opportunity to watch the transformation of cane sugar into honey and aguardente (sugar cane brandy). Instruments- industrial archaeological artefacts- from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that were found in the mill are on display. Visitors can watch a bilingual film on the production process of cane sugar, from the harvest to transport, crushing, fermentation, distillation and finally the bottling of aguardente.