Historic Cider Barrel May Roll Elsewhere

Artifact opened in mid-1920s

Updated 8:16 AM EST, Mon, Jul 13, 2009

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The Washington Examiner

GERMANTOWN, Md. -- Montgomery County officials are considering a proposal to move the Cider Barrel, a historic roadside attraction shaped like a barrel that used to sell fresh apple cider.

Proponents of the plan say the barrel -- a rare artifact of the county's rural past that now sits in the middle of suburbia on busy Maryland Route 355 -- could be put to use again if it is moved.

The barrel opened in Germantown in the mid-1920s and sold fresh, nonalcoholic apple cider during the height of Prohibition. It closed in 2003, after longtime owner Bill Cross sold the property to a developer. Today the stand sits padlocked and shuttered.
Many residents recall fondly visiting the stand every fall.

"I wish I had a chance to go get their cider again. ... To me it was just unmatchable," said Neil Greenberger, a spokesman for the Montgomery County Council who has lived near the stand for 19 years. "You knew their stuff came from a tree right down the road."

County planners have recommended moving the stand, which the county named a historical site in 1980 and can't be demolished, to a more accessible place in the Germantown area. The land behind its current location has been developed with luxury apartments, and there is no public parking.

County Council member Michael Knapp, D-Germantown, said the stand is unusable at its present spot. If it's moved elsewhere, it could be reopened, Knapp said.

"It's more important to have people live the history than just see the history," he said.

But some preservationists argue that moving the stand would erase history.

Kathie Hulley, a board member of the Germantown Historical Society, said the stand's prominent location on Route 355 is what makes it unique. Hulley said the county should preserve both its agricultural history and the history of the highway, which helped open up the western territories and served as an escape route for government officials fleeing the British during the War of 1812.

"If you do away with your history, everything's transient. You have to have something you can fasten on to," she said.