The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-06-25

On a sunny slope in the historic valley
of the Otter Kill, near Washingtonville,
a few miles back from the towering hills
that stand guard over the Hudson River,
is gnarled and twisted grapevine, with
massive trunk, black and wrinkled by age,
yet full of life and vigor, and now bios
soming for its sixtieth annual bountiful
fruitage- There are other black, gnarTed,
and twisted vines on the same hillside,
some of which came into bearing perhaps
fifty years ago, but none so aged as this
hale and vigorous father of the vineyard.
Fronting the vineyard and on the slope,
much Of its rude exterior hidden by cling
ing masses of ivy. stands a stone build
ing of quaint design and structure, sug-
costing by its architectural lines and
angles some old chapel of the Norman
days, save that it has not the added
charm of ruin
When that rare old grapevine was first
rooted in the stony soil that is yet its
home, and that impressive pile of rough
cobbiestone was reared, that fair valley
still bore plainly many relics and palpable
reminders of the army of Washington,
which had lain long there and there
about, guarding the important passes Of
the Hudson and the RamapO-for breast
works were still to be seen, an6 the sites
of camps were almost as they had been
left when the war was over and men "a
plenty still lived in the valley who re-
membered well those stirring times, and
who had borne brave part in them on
many a bloody f1eId-as the messy grave
stones in any OF the old burying grounds
in the valley amply ard eioquently testify
today. The vine had been more than ten
years in bearing when the first locomotive
whistle was heard in the valley fifty
years ago, and great watts and casks of
wine that had been pressed from Its fruit
and that of its fellows in the vineyard
lay stored in the cool, deep vaults that
had been tunueled and arched beneath
the quaint stone building on the hillside.
Il 1886 a French immigrant came to
America with his wife and two children
to seek his fortune. He was a vineyard
list and winemaizer. He brought with him
numerous cuttings from vines in France,
hoping to find somewhere in this country
climate and soil econgeniaI to them, that
he might transplant them here and enjoy
the harvest OF their fruitage. He travel
ed up the Hudson River from New York,
and, attracted by the appearance Of the
hills and valleys that stretched away
westward from the river and the high
lands, he sought among them for the con-
ditions required. y few miles back from
the river, in the most picturesque of those
valleys, ne found a sunny slope, so near
" the counterpart of one he had known
at his old home that he purchased land
upon it, settled there with his family and
planted the yina cuttings he had brought
from the sunny slope in France With
the planting of the vineyard he began ex-
cavating in the hillside for the building
he was to erect as part of his plan, and
tunneling for vaults beneath it. From the
cobbIestones that came plentifuIly into
sight as the ground was excayated and
tunneIed he reared the quaint, medic
val looking structure, whose rude lines
and ivy clad walls today excite curiosity
in the tourist as he sees them from the
cars in passing, and the full significance
and import OF whose existence contempo-
raTy with that Of the gnarled vine near
by, do not appear even to those who have
lived all their lives almost IN its shadow
The French immigrants vineyard grew
and thriyed- In lesy II pore Its HTSt crop
This was made into wine The wine was
stored in the Vaulted tunnels beneath
the stone building. Year by year the
vineyard was increased IN acreage, and
the vintage in the cellar increased IN
proportion. The dream Of the French
immigrant was more than realized. He
had made q profitable demand for AmeTl-
can wines, and supplied it His was the
first successful venture Of the kind The
Swiss colony in InCiaHa had attempted
generation 44ctl 1ctltGtly c1ilA rs
vineyards were uprooted- The German
winemakerS on Long Island had not
succeeded IN gaining favor for their pro-
duct, and had ceased in their efforts
The Ohio cat2Wba wine did not appear
until decade after the French iInmi-
grant had established successfully his iso-
lated wine cellar in the sunny Ne% York
valley. and not for q score or more years
later did the earliest other successful
ventures in the making Of American wines
have their beginning Thus that quaint
stone building and the Enarlsd and twist
ed old grapevine, still vigorous IN the
buildings shadow. stand for much more
than the mere story OF their age and
Quaintness implies They embCdy in
themselves the very foundation of a great
American iuduStTy-the birth of an idea
which in its growth has made glad
what would otherwise have been but
waste places. and lifted them from ludl-
genCe TO wealth. and called into profita-
Bile existence collateral industries that
would not have been. Today the wines
Of New York State alone return 20 the
manufacturers nearly 100000 annually,
and tn wriu1led Old grapevine and the
ivy grown stone building at the foot
hills of the Hudson highlands represent
the beginning of il all
The French immigrant lived to see him
self and his family rich and prominent as
the result of that planting of grape cut
uugS from his native France He died.
and his sons and his widow followed him
in the course of years The nl1 vineyard
and the later ones, and tue old cellar
hands, and although the increasing de-
mand y American wines has compelled
additions 10 the original cellar and its
tunnels aFG vaults. neither its quaint
form nor the favor Of its antiquity has
been disturbed.
Only sixty miles from New York. and
yet how few people know that in this
short distance they may come into what
may well be called a picturesque bit of
France itSelf-the Vineclad slopes. the an
Cient wine cellar. and the journey into
its deep down, dungeonlike tunnels. As /
lighted candle in hand carried at the
end Of long wooden stick. one deSCends
into thOge underground depths. and fol-
lows his guide through the maZeS of the
Vaulted chambers. some narrow some
wide. all high rooted and black as pitch /
save for the twinkling here and there of
the candles of other tourists through the
depths. ike hretileS in the darkness: with /
great rows of bottles ranked high on
either side, gEttering now and then as the
htful flare of q candle falls upon them
and massive casks stored away and hid
den IN murky corners, the musk flavor
voices now faint now distinct. then faint
and far away again. coming out from
narrow paSSagewayS OF roOmy vaults il
seems q new. strange world that he is In /
and the words of his guide. Thirty thou
sand bottles in this tier zone hundred
Seven hundred and fifty thousand bot
ties, perhaps, in all. Twenty thousand
gallons in yOn caSk." fall uDUu his ear
as If he were half awake and half asleep.
and seem like voices in the night. When
ne comes into the sunlight again there is
an amber maze on hill and valley and near
by Things look Tar away-the effect of the
candle light and the long strained vision
in the dark vaults below. And one NAV
We'll believe his guide. afte: the sights in I