I make furniture from maple. Mainly live edge natural tables.
It will darken considerably once a protective finish is applied, varying in darkness depending on the finish used.
Something like shellac is very light in color, while oil or oil/varnish/BLO can darken the piece quite a bit if you put on several coats. Commercial poly finishes such as Minwax or Arm-R-Seal are going to give a warm, honey look.
If you want an original 'colonial America look', you can order some bee's wax and melt it together with ground walnut hulls. That or just melt the wax with a commercial stain of your choosing. These types of finishes are protective, but are not exceptionally durable for the long haul and will need to be reapplied sooner than other methods. Many people like them however because they don't look or feel plasticky.
Incidentally, you can buy kiln dried pieces of just about any type of wood from a woodworking store. They sell some really cool, exotic looking stuff too.