Beer sales are back in Benton County nearly 70 years after voters outlawed retail alcohol sales, but the wet status is just the latest chapter in the county's long relationship with booze.
The quiet creek in Debi Havner's backyard used to feed a business you might not expect to see in Benton County.
"It was the largest applejack brandy distillery this side of the Mississippi," Havner says.
She had no idea her Bentonville home sat on such a historic site.
"I didn't realize it was here when we started cleaning out our back part of our yard," she says. "We uncovered all of the cement forms."
The ruins of the distillery are still in the backyard, including rows of concrete structures that held casks of brandy.
Gaye Bland, director of the Rogers Historical Museum says at the turn of the 20th century, the northwest corner of the Natural State was the top apple producer in the country.
"They called Benton County the land of the big red apple," she says.
Entrepreneurs moved in, taking the less desirable apples and turning them into something stronger.
"There were distilleries, there were wineries, across Benton County," she says.
There were also quite a few saloons, Bland says the first business in Rogers consisted of a wagon and a couple barrels of booze.
"They took the wagon bed off the wheels and set it on a couple of stumps and went into business while they were waiting for the town to be built," she says.
But in 1915, the county went dry as the prohibition movement gained steam, and commercial distilleries dried up with it.
"They tried to make a go of it with apple cider vinegar but that must not have been as popular as the brandy," Havner says. "They went out of business."
Bland says the booze kept flowing, but it was underground.
"There were a lot of stills around the county," she says. "A lot of law enforcement time was put into the effort of trying to locate those and bust those up."
After prohibition's repeal in the 30's, the county didn't stay wet long. In 1944 booze was banned again.
"Some of the folks who were in favor of the county going dry took advantage of the fact that all those servicemen who did like their beer were overseas and weren't here to vote," she says. "They scheduled a vote on the issue and the county went dry by only 90 votes."
And dry it stayed, until last November when voters overturned the 68 year old law. Bland made sure to document the latest development.
"I sent my husband out the first day to buy a six pack of bottled beer and donate the case it came in and the receipt to the museum," she says.
Havner says all this talk about booze has people asking about her property.
"It's part of our history, and some of the old timers remember that it's back here," she says.
And she's happy to explain the part her property played in Benton County's boozy past.
"I like it and I like when people are interested in it," she says. "It's nice to be able to share that with people."
The quiet creek in Debi Havner's backyard used to feed a business you might not expect to see in Benton County.
"It was the largest applejack brandy distillery this side of the Mississippi," Havner says.
She had no idea her Bentonville home sat on such a historic site.
"I didn't realize it was here when we started cleaning out our back part of our yard," she says. "We uncovered all of the cement forms."
The ruins of the distillery are still in the backyard, including rows of concrete structures that held casks of brandy.
Gaye Bland, director of the Rogers Historical Museum says at the turn of the 20th century, the northwest corner of the Natural State was the top apple producer in the country.
"They called Benton County the land of the big red apple," she says.
Entrepreneurs moved in, taking the less desirable apples and turning them into something stronger.
"There were distilleries, there were wineries, across Benton County," she says.
There were also quite a few saloons, Bland says the first business in Rogers consisted of a wagon and a couple barrels of booze.
"They took the wagon bed off the wheels and set it on a couple of stumps and went into business while they were waiting for the town to be built," she says.
But in 1915, the county went dry as the prohibition movement gained steam, and commercial distilleries dried up with it.
"They tried to make a go of it with apple cider vinegar but that must not have been as popular as the brandy," Havner says. "They went out of business."
Bland says the booze kept flowing, but it was underground.
"There were a lot of stills around the county," she says. "A lot of law enforcement time was put into the effort of trying to locate those and bust those up."
After prohibition's repeal in the 30's, the county didn't stay wet long. In 1944 booze was banned again.
"Some of the folks who were in favor of the county going dry took advantage of the fact that all those servicemen who did like their beer were overseas and weren't here to vote," she says. "They scheduled a vote on the issue and the county went dry by only 90 votes."
And dry it stayed, until last November when voters overturned the 68 year old law. Bland made sure to document the latest development.
"I sent my husband out the first day to buy a six pack of bottled beer and donate the case it came in and the receipt to the museum," she says.
Havner says all this talk about booze has people asking about her property.
"It's part of our history, and some of the old timers remember that it's back here," she says.
And she's happy to explain the part her property played in Benton County's boozy past.
"I like it and I like when people are interested in it," she says. "It's nice to be able to share that with people."
