Dutch Hollow Wine Cellars
A diamond in the rough, the Dutch Hollow Wine Cellars are truly a gem. Rumored to have been built by an Italian immigrant family in the mid 1850s the cellars and surrounding vineyards only produced wine from 1855 to 1861 when the American Civil War halted production for good.
The grapes would be harvested from the surrounding area and brought to the cellars to be worked, the juice would have then been put into large wooden barrels and stacked on racks for the fermentation process. Once ready the wine would be taken to the nearby town of Dunbar, WV to be shipped by river to buyers all along the great Kanawha and Ohio rivers.
There are many rumors and stories about the cellars after their closing in 1861. Some say they were used to house runaway slaves, others say the cellars were used as a jail for captured soldiers during the war and of course there are those that say the cellars are haunted. Whatever it's history or uses following it's closing, you can still be sure of one thing. They are definitely worth a trip to see and photograph.
Levi Moore is the WV Editor for Wandering Educators
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