Monday, August 13, 2012

A Michter's Update....

So while in the area today, a friend and I decided to stop by the Michter's site. Since the site is now owned by Lebanon Farms Disposal (See the article from the Lebanon Daily News a few posts back), I did not want to set foot on the property without permission. We drove down to the Lebanon Farms office and asked if we could walk around and take some pictures. The receptionist there was very nice and made a call to see if it was allowable. Unfortunately, with the condition of the buildings, we were not granted permission to go on the site. From the years of neglect- I think I termed it "...no regard for American history..." in my video in a previous post- the buildings are in sad, sad shape- the three warehouses at the top of the hill  and the grain drying building had even collapsed by the time LFD bought the property. The buildings that remain are pretty shaky too. It would not surprise me if the fermenting building and column building were torn down as well. Back when I still had access to the property through Dwight Hostetter, the only good buildings on the site were the original still house and Warehouse A, which Dwight had secured and re-roofed. While it is sad and upsetting for me to see the site slowly scrapped and dismantled, I've come to terms with it as of late and understand it must be done for the safety of the local area. I would love to see at least the still house saved. To me, that is the epitome of Michter's and a nice building to restore and use. As they say though- "All good things must come to an end."

4 comments:

  1. I'm grateful that you coordinated the group tour for us a couple of years ago, when things were still pretty much intact. It was an amazing time that will never again be replicated.

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  2. Thanks Sam. It's sad to see what is happening to the site, but it was almost inevitable. The buildings became unstable and even when Dwight had it, the township wanted many of the buildings removed. And we can't really blame the current owners at all. The deterioration didn't happen on their watch, it was the previous string of owners that allowed it to sit and fall to ruins.

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  3. The Bomberger Distillery must be saved!

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  4. Agreed. I'm hoping the still house is at least saved since it's in reasonably good condition.

    PS- Sam, I sent you an email. Not sure how often you check it.

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