These sugar maples are very old.  They could be what's left of an ancient sugarbush.  The nearby stone walls indicate that the area was probably a pasture, but not necessarily.  The old sugarbush could have been fenced off.  There are younger hardwoods here too which indicate that the stand was probably selectively cut 60-80 years ago.  

These hemlocks are downslope from the big sugar maples above.  They are probably of about the same age as the maples.  Many have been uprooted or broken by storms in recent years.  Natural regeneration is coming up in the small gaps created by the storm damage.