Well, believe it or not, some of your Athens county Ancestors were probably personally or knew someone personally involved with the very big business of

making and selling

Moonshine

Moonshine is another word for whiskey made from fermented corn mash in a system of stills.  Moonshine was big business when the coal mines were not working and the miners  had to support their big families somehow.  Bootleggers provided the alcohol to soda fountain cafe's and the alochol was sold in the backroom to people who were considered safe buyers.  Revenuers were the officials paid to find the bootlegging operations and close them down. 

Making and selling moonshine was and is illegal because the law decided that some makers were using unsafe practices for making the shine that could make people ill or even kill them so the law tried to keep some control over who was making it so that the product could be considered pure and safe to the drinker.  Prohibition occurred in the 1920's but that still did not stop some of the makers of shine.

This article was found folded up in the Bible of one of my ancestor grandmother's.  It is an article about a Moonshine making distillery system found in a cave which had its entrance hidden by a pig pen in Athens county in Buchtel, Ohio.  You had to go through the pig pen to get inside.  Now that was being creative!

Thought you would enjoy seeing this article as much as I did.

Each Year, Memorial Weekend, The Moonshine Festival is celebrated in New Straitsville, Ohio.

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