On Saturday and Sunday October 22nd and 23rd from 11am- 4pm, visitors are invited to join the Living History staff and volunteers for Drink Your Apples: Cider Making 1860. Make cider at Roeder’s White Hall Tavern on Potomac Street. This time- honored tradition produced the most popular 19th century beverage for man, woman, and child.
Harpers Ferry’s White Hall Tavern proprietor, German immigrant Frederick Roeder, brought his brewing and baking expertise with him to America. Both processes were co-dependent on the cultivation and use of hops. Roeder’s 1860 tavern offered patrons a fine assortment of distilled and fermented beverages.
Annual cider house pressings were consumed as fresh cider, fermented hard cider by the introduction of yeast, or distilled hard cider a process that concentrated the alcohol content. Both alcohol methods preserved this popular fall beverage to be enjoyed far into the dark and cold winter days that were ahead.
For further information, call Harpers Ferry National Historical Park at (304) 535-6029.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
