Our Pick
Posted on @rawstates
The grape belt and the man who would not ferment it
1869
North East, Erie County, Pennsylvania
sweetfixNYC · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The strip of land between the lake and the ridge here has a growing season long enough for Concord grapes and is one of the biggest grape districts in the country. Thomas Welch, a Methodist dentist who objected to communion wine, worked out how to pasteurise the juice so it would not ferment, and the business that grew out of that objection still presses a large share of the crop within a few miles of here. Wineries eventually turned up anyway.
That was 1 of the hidden places.
Location: approximate area
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