The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-06-30
"A BIT OF FRANCE
NEAR NEW YORK
Wine Cellars and a Building Of Norman Arch
lecture That Date Back to Reyolu-
tionary Days.
tionary Days.

On the sunny slope IN the historic
valley of the Otter XII. near Washing
tonville. few miles back Of the tower
ing hills that stand guard over tle Hud-
son river, is a gnarled and twisted grape
Vines with massive trunk. black and
wrinkled by age, yet full OF lie ana
Wgor, and now poisoning for It's SIX
tieth annual bountiful fruitage, says the
New York Tribune. There are other
black gnarled 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 It's rudo cX-
terror hidden by clinglng masses of Ivy.
stands a stone building of quaint de-
sign and structure. suggesting by Its
architectural lines and angles some old
chapel Of the Norman days, save that 1T
has not the added charm of rum.
When that rare old grapevine was first
rooted in the stony soil that Is yet its
homo, and that impressive pile Of rough
cobblestone was reared, that fair valley
still bore plainly many relics and pal
pable reminders Of the army Of Wash
ington. which had lain long there and
thereabout, guarding the important
passes of the Hudson and the Kamapo
for breast works were still to be seen,
and the sites of camps were almost
as they had been left when the war was
over and men a-plenty sull lived In the
valley who remembered we'll those stir
ring times, and who had borne brave
part in them on many a bloody field
as the messy graves zones i'll any Of the
old burying grounds in the valley amply
and eloquently testify today. The vine
had been more than ten years in bear
ing 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 it's fcuit and that
of it's fellows in the vineyard lay stored
in the COOL deeep vaults that had been
tunnelled and arched beneath the quaint
stone building on the hillside
In 1856 French immigrant came to
America with his wife and two children
to seek his fortune. He was a vineyard
ist and Winemaker. He brought with him
numerous cuttings from vines in France,
hoping to find somewhere in this country
climate and soil congenial to them, that
he might transplant them here and en-
Joy the harvest of their fruitage. He
Travelled 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
highlands, he sought among them for
the conditions required. A few miles
DdCA from UnG river III the ulOSl liCtQI-
esQue of those valleys, he found a sunny
slope so nearly the counterpart Of one
he had known at his old home that he
purchased land upon 1t, settled there
with his family and planted the vine cut
tings he had brought from the sunny
slope in France. With the planting OF
the vineyard he began excavating in the
hillside for the building he was to erect
as part of his plan, and tunneling for
vaults beneath it. From the cobblestones
that came plentifUlly into sight as the
ground was excavated and tunneled he
Scared the quaint Misunderstanding
structure whose rude lines and ivy-clad
walls today excite curiosity in the tour
sSt as he sees them from the cars in
passing, and the full significance and i'm
Sort of whose existence, contemporary
with that of the gnarled vine near by,
lid not appear even to those who have
lived all their lives almost in It's shadow.
The French immigrants vineyard
grew and thrived. In 1889 it bore its first
crop. This was made into wine. The
Erine was stored in the vaulted tunnels
beneath the stone building. Year by
year the vineyard was increased in acre
age, and the vintage in the cellar in
creased in proportion. The dream Of the
French immigrant was more than real
1zed. He had made a profitable demand
Tor American wines, and supplied it. His
was the first successful venture of the
kind. The Swiss colony in Indiana had
attempted it a generation before, had
failed, and its vineyards were uprooted.
The German winemakers on Long Island
had not succeeded in gaining favor for
their product. and had ceased in their
efforts. The Ohio Catawba wine did not
appear until a decade after the French
Immigrant had established his isolated
wine cellar in the sunny New York val
ley, and not for a 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 gnarled
in the buildings shadow, stand for much
more than the mere story Of their age