As a real estate agent residing in Somerset County New Jersey, one of my favorite fall acitvies is taking a day trip driving through the countryside looking at the wonderful displays of the fall foliage and stopping into the many stores and shops along the way.
By chance I was traveling through the Morris and Somerset County areas last year we stumbled upon a most interesting historical site, that of the Ralston Cider Mill located on Rt. 24. The clock had been turned back. The cider mill had been sitting vacant for more that 70 years avoiding the epitath of the bulldozer, and had just opened up for visitors during the months of September and October.
Before entering the building we were treated to a short film that informed visitors about the history of the site. When we entered the inside of the building, everything was still in it's original condition including the pulleys and belts, the presses, the old style mechanical engineering.
The Ralston Mill was originally built in 1848 as a gristmill on the border of Mendham and Chester Townships. Grain was ground into flour and animal feed for approximately 60 years until it was acquired by a new owner who turned the building into a cider mill.
The brandy industry in New Jersey had been in production for 130 years before the Ralston Mill had every squeezed a drop of apple cider, having begun in 1773 in Morris County. By 1899 New Jesey was the national leader in cider production, with 23% of that being brandy.
When Prohibition came, that changed everything. In it's heyday the cider mill had been producing all brandy. An underground distillery in back of the main building housed the operation. From what was a normal workday comprising of processing 10,000 lbs. of fruit into 1,100 gallons of cider, all efforts now went directly into making brandy.
When Prohibition ended in 1933 the tide changed forever. The liquior industry turned to a more affordable wheat-based whiskey and the apple orchards started disappearing. New towns and homes were built that replaced these apple orchards. The mill closed it's doors in 1938. Today this mill stands as a last suvivor of an era gone by.
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