Today marks the 75th anniversary the 21st Amendment to the US Constitution. Seventy five years ago the prohibition experiment ended in America and we could drink legally again.
Not that prohibition stopped anyone from drinking. Yesterday, on the Kojo Nnamdi Show on WAMU, Kojo did a half hour program on Washington DC during prohibition. One of the stories was about a notorious bootlegger known as The Man in the Green Hat who actually had an office in the capital building to better serve our nations lawmakers.
My favorite tidbit from the show though, was the origin of the Maryland nickname “The Free State.” I guess always assumed it had something to do with the Revolutionary a War or emancipation but apparently I was wrong. According to one of his guests, that moniker was given to our state during prohibition because bootleg liquor moved so freely across Maryland’s borders.
Not that prohibition stopped anyone from drinking. Yesterday, on the Kojo Nnamdi Show on WAMU, Kojo did a half hour program on Washington DC during prohibition. One of the stories was about a notorious bootlegger known as The Man in the Green Hat who actually had an office in the capital building to better serve our nations lawmakers.
My favorite tidbit from the show though, was the origin of the Maryland nickname “The Free State.” I guess always assumed it had something to do with the Revolutionary a War or emancipation but apparently I was wrong. According to one of his guests, that moniker was given to our state during prohibition because bootleg liquor moved so freely across Maryland’s borders.
So go out tonight and support your local innkeeper. Appropriately enough, it is a good weekend for the two cities bar scene. The Second Chance Saloon is opening tonight in the Oakland Mills Village Center in Columbia and last week the Diamondback Tavern opened on Old Columbia Road in Ellicott City.Cheers!
