Community Corner
Vintage Hunt Valley-Cockeysville: The Distillery
Check out this historic photograph of the Hunt Valley-Cockeysville area, courtesy of the Baltimore County Public Library.
If you couldn't tell from the somewhat inconspicously placed barrel to the left of this photograph, the men in this picture are employees of a distillery.
More specifically, these men all worked at John Wight's Sherwood Distillery located in Cockeysville, according to a catalog listing on the Baltimore County Public Library's web site.
The library listing goes on to say that one of the six men seated in the front row may be John Wight.
Find out what's happening in Hunt Valley-Cockeysvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Now, the distillery in this photo may not be the one you're thinking of; according to this website, which documents Maryland rye whiskey producers, Sherwood Distillery produced alcohol before prohibition.
Today it's the site of Procter & Gamble at 11050 York Road.
Find out what's happening in Hunt Valley-Cockeysvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Post-prohibition, another member of the Wight family tried to resurrect the Sherwood name, but was unable to and wound up producing Ryebrook Whiskey at the distillery you're thinking of.
The letters that spelled out "Ryebrook" were still visible on the side of that building, in the 11000 block of York Road, until it suffered a partial collapse.
Do you have an interesting bit of Cockeysville or Hunt Valley history to share? Tell us in the comments.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.