Tag Archives: prohibition
It’s the 100th anniversary! Let’s raise a glass to Prohibition
On a foggy evening on April 23, 1927, the fishing schooner Etta M. Burns was sailing back to New Bedford when the helmsman fell asleep and the boat washed up on the rocks off Squibnocket Beach in Chilmark. As the surf battered the ship, bottles of liquor were released from the ruptured hull and washed up on shore.,, the bottles that washed ashore were marked Old Mac Scotch Whisky, but they had come not from Scotland but from a 
rusty steamer anchored 30 miles off Montauk. They were all totally rotgut. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the 18th Amendment, a constitutional ban on the production and sale of alcoholic beverages that can be seen as the very definition of unintended consequences. Rather than eliminating liquor, this act did more to instill a culture of drinking in a thirsty nation than 100,000 happy hours. >click to read< 10:43
Rum-Running: Montauk’s Economic Engine, 1919–1932
Montauk is the fishing capital of the world, a small town with more world fishing records than any other town anywhere. It is also one of this country’s great surfing spots. A recent rating organization ranked it #8 for surfing on the East Coast. There was a time, however, when Montauk was the rum-running capital of America. In 1919, Congress passed the 18th Amendment, making it illegal to buy and sell alcoholic beverages in America. For the next 13 years, the people of this country, the vast majority of them anyway, ignored the law, drank as much illegal alcohol as they could find and partied every weekend late into the night. The era was called the “Roaring ’20s.” Read the story here 15:12
Lender seeks foreclosure on whale rescue group’s land
Palm Beach County lender Robert Denenberg sued the Marine Mammal Conservancy on May 20 in Monroe County Circuit Court arguing he is owed $300,000 in overdue mortgage payments, plus $5,250 in unpaid interest. Read more here 20:15
