Tales from the Moonshine Trade

The Scots-Irish farmers in the Virginia mountains made whiskey for generations prior to Prohibition, and they weren't about to halt that home craft when the government enacted laws against it. The making of moonshine in the hills and hollows is recalled by the storytellers, many of whom have first-hand knowledge.
Moonshiner James Hayes, shown here with his wife, Mary Grizzle Hayes, and children, about 1911, provided for his large family on Brushy Ridge in Dickenson County by selling his whiskey to the Clinchfield Coal Corporation officials and doctors in Dante, in Russell County. (Collection of Margie Hayes Lawson)
Moonshiner James Hayes, shown here with his wife, Mary Grizzle Hayes, and children, about 1911, provided for his large family on Brushy Ridge in Dickenson County by selling his whiskey to the Clinchfield Coal Corporation officials and doctors in Dante, in Russell County. (Collection of Margie Hayes Lawson)