After crossing over the majestic Chesapeake Bay Bridge toward sandy seaside shores, you pass bucolic landscapes and picturesque, quiet colonial towns such as Easton, Md. It is hard to imagine the area bustling with bootleggers and rum-runners, but as author Eric Mills describes in “Chesapeake Rumrunners of the Roaring Twenties,” that was exactly the case at the height of Prohibition in the 1920s.
Prohibition preachers such as the infamous Billy Sunday extolled the virtues of sobriety. He and his acolytes celebrated exuberantly on Jan. 16, 1920, as the sale of alcohol became illegal nationwide.
Despite the new law, the thirst for spirits did not dissipate in Baltimore, Washington D.C., and Philadelphia, urban centers with relatively easy access to Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. As federal agents cracked down on big-city bootleggers, simple economics dictated that strong demand for goods would naturally create new suppliers willing to take risks to make profits.
Prior to Prohibition, as Mills points out, bootlegging stills were a rarity on Chesapeake Bay shores. This quickly changed as illegal stills spread like wildfire in the rural area.
“The Chesapeake Bay was ideal for the creation and dissemination of illegal booze,” Mills writes. “It was a tidewater maze of clannish, close-mouther communities where entrepreneurship coexisted with a bemused sense of defiance, a spirit ingrained to the point of … unspoken tradition. Crop country plus water access plus independent-minded locals with boats spelled moonshiner’s paradise and rum-runner’s Riviera.”
Chesapeake bootleggers churned out raw spirits, the proverbial “white lightning” moonshine of dubious quality. Customers in big city speakeasies were willing customers. Many Chesapeake Bay watermen seized the opportunity to bring the goods to market via water.
“The vessels in Chesapeake waters were well-suited for rum-running, especially when customized for the purpose,” Mills notes. “Bay boats were being built with extra cargo space, artfully hidden, for the burgeoning cottage industry of maritime liquor traffic. The Prohibition-era vessels had false bottoms built to fit cases…”
To get a good idea of the boats, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in charming St. Michaels, Md., offers “Water Lines: Chesapeake Watercraft Traditions,” a long-term exhibition that opened in 2023 at the new welcome center. The exhibition displays over 30 small, historic watercraft.
Mills vividly depicts some of the rugged characters who piloted the boats while battling Coast Guard cutters and federal revenue agents struggling to suppress the flow of booze. Eventually, consumers’ desire for more authentic liquors such as Scotch whiskey, rye whiskey and Caribbean rum led to what Mills describes as “Rum Row” offshore in international waters beyond the Coast Guard’s jurisdiction.
Larger vessels (as depicted above in a photo from Chesapeake Bay Magazine) laden with booze from Europe and the Caribbean would anchor on Rum Row, and Chesapeake watermen would travel out under cover of fog and nightfall to offload cases. Upon returning, the intrepid watermen ran the Coast Guard gauntlet on Chesapeake Bay to deliver the goods to Baltimore and elsewhere.
By the early 1930s, the federal government had realized Prohibition was a colossal failure and a boon for organized criminal enterprises that profited handsomely. And as the Great Depression advanced, everybody felt they could use a stiff drink occasionally to cope with the economic disaster.
Prohibition was repealed in 1933 and the great Chesapeake rum-running party abruptly ended.
These days it is much easier to get a taste of the good stuff. Try the following from Clément, “The Godfather of Rhum Agricole,” on the tropical island of Martinique.
Rhum in Martinique
In 1493, Christopher Columbus introduced sugar cane to Martinique. The plant found a natural home in the island’s deep, fertile soil and hot, humid climate. Until 1848, slave labor tended the sugar cane.
In 1852, four years after the abolition of slavery on the island, Homère Clément was born. The grandson of freed slaves, Clément studied medicine in Paris before returning to Martinique in 1885. He eventually purchased a sugar plantation, Domaine de l’Acajou, which became his family home, Habitation D’Clément.
A volcanic eruption in 1902 brought the island’s economy to its knees, and the sugar industry, which focused on the production of refined sugar and molasses, came close to collapsing.
Clément, a political leader, helped to innovate rhum production. He promoted rhum, which is produced from the direct fermentation of freshly pressed sugar cane juice. Most rum is distilled from fermented sugar cane molasses.
The innovation saved Martinique’s rhum production and earned Clément the nickname of “The Godfather of Rhum Agricole.” In 1917, he set up a rhum distillery of his own to satisfy the thirst of World War I soldiers in Europe.
Clément’s son and grandsons carried on after his passing in 1923. They modernized the distillation process and began promoting their Martinique Rhum internationally under the family name.
In 1986, businessman and island native Bernard Hayot purchased the enterprise and eventually opened Habitation D’Clément to public tours. Today, the plantation’s essential spirit continues with sugar cane and banana production along with carefully tended gardens.
Habitation D’Clément offers a fully modernized facility where visitors learn about the production of rhum agricole. It is still used to age the rhums in oak barrels before blending and bottling.
Here at home, try the delicious Clément, V.S.O.P Rhum Vieux Agricole, Martinique (available widely nationally for about $44, according to wine-searcher.com). It ages a minimum of four years in oak barrels before blending and bottling.
This rhum’s gorgeous amber color offers enticing aromas of banana, caramel, vanilla and floral notes. Tasted straight up, its delicious fruity flavors with a hint of sweetness balance with a zesty tang and a smooth, elegant finish that lingers deliciously.
For a tasty cocktail, mix 2 ounces of Clément, V.S.O.P Rhum Vieux Agricole with the freshly squeezed juice of half of a lime and an ounce of simple sugar syrup. Serve over cracked ice.
Cheers!