Couple Finds 66 Bottles of Prohibition Whisky While Renovating Bootlegger’s Home in Upstate New York

When preservationist Nick Drummond and his partner Patrick came across an old house for sale in Ames, New York, they knew that it would be perfect for their dream of rehabbing and renovating a classic home. This particular home had an incredibly interesting history, some of which was rumored to involve bootlegging.

We were told the home was rumored to have been built by a childless german baron who turned to bootlegging in the 1920’s. The story is endearing, and most likely completely false, but we’re going along with it. After all, who doesn’t want to live in a home built by a bootlegging barren baron?

When the couple began rehabbing, they discovered bottles of Prohibition whisky hidden inside the walls of their new home. As they dug in further, they found more, thus leading to the name “Bootlegger Bungalow”

OUR WALLS ARE BUILT OF BOOZE! I can’t believe the rumors are true! He was actually a bootlegger! I mean I thought it was a cute story, but the builder of our house was ACTUALLY a bootlegger!

As it turned out, the builder of the house, Adolph Humpfner, was far more enigmatic than that.

He died under (possibly suspicious?) circumstances on Oct 12 of 1932. The only witness to his death was the administrator of his will. …He had many aliases and was known as the mystery man of the Mohawk Valley, and “the count”; although there was never proof of his royalty beyond his own claims. …It was a mystery to locals at the time how he amassed his fortune.

The couple wound up finding 66 bottles of whisky that were hidden within the structure of the house. According to Drummond, they haven’t tried it yet.

To everyone asking if we have tried it, we haven’t! But we will! I don’t know why we haven’t yet haha. I have a weird thing where I like the anticipation of not knowing?. I’m driving Patrick crazy.

via My Modern Met

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

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