Original subtitles

[narrator] Strange structures that harnessed Nazi technology,

concealed in the heart of America.

[man] If it wasn't for the work that was carried out in

these buildings, we could all be speaking Russian right now.

[narrator] An amusement park where joy unexpectedly turned to despair.

[man #2] Everything was devastated.

At that point in time, we had nothing.

[narrator] And the island ruins of an unbelievable industry.

It's hard to imagine that people could

build something like this.

[narrator] In upstate New York, one forgotten facility helped

launch the United States into a whole new world.

[birds singing]

[man] There was a certain danger involved in this work.

It was an exciting phenomena,

to smell them and to hear them and to get a sense

of the power.

The most intelligent people in America, they were attracted to

this new science.

[Dr. Kwami] We're just outside Malta.

It's a small town located right at the foothills of

the Adirondack Mountains.

[narrator] Deep in the forest, a forgotten site is hidden

in the foliage.

[Dr. Auerbach] This is the last thing you would expect to see,

huge concrete and steel structures that are

totally derelict.

[Bell] Looming over it all is this huge, rusting tower.

Is it a guard tower? Is it a control tower?

Who knows? But it's certainly sinister.

Many of the buildings have thick blast-proof windows.

What is this place?

[Dr. Auerbach] Some are still fully equipped.

This was clearly state-of-the-art stuff for

the time, and yet it was just all left behind.

[narrator] This place represents a time when the nation's dreams

stretched out of this world.

[Bell] These structures transformed a Nazi wonder weapon

into one of America's greatest success stories.

[narrator] Retired history teacher Paul Perreault has a passion for

the Empire State's past.

But for over 50 years, the role these buildings played

eluded him.

[Perreault] When I first discovered the place, I felt shocked that

such an important facility existed but was

so little known.

[narrator] Despite being built for a clandestine purpose,

Paul has made it his life's mission to shine a light on

these structures.

And I felt, well, it's my job to make the community aware of

just how important this place is to American history.

[narrator] The story of this site began

in 1945, as America and its allies

pushed into Nazi Germany to defeat Hitler.

Germany lost the war, but its technological

advancements were extraordinary.

The American government was really keen to get their hands

on some of that technology.

[Bell] The Soviets wanted this tech, too.

So to capture it first, Washington hatched a plan to

recruit Nazi engineers and scientists as their army

progressed through Germany.

[narrator] The secret mission that shaped this facility was dubbed

Operation Paperclip.

Operation Paperclip was hugely successful,

and approximately 1,600 German scientists and engineers

were recruited.

[narrator] Among all the names, one stood out.

[Perreault] Wernher von Braun was the head of

the German rocket program,

and he was the chief target.

He is called the father of rocketry.

[narrator] The US government believed one of von Braun's inventions could

steer any future conflict in America's favor,

the V2 rocket.

Designed and tested at the Nazi Peenemunde Research Center on

Germany's Baltic coast, it was a weapon the kind of which

the world had never seen before.

With a 220-mile range and gyroscopic guidance for

accuracy, the V2 rocket had rained terror

on America's allies in Europe.

The V2 rocket was the first ballistic missile.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] Yet its destructive power wasn't the only capability of

the V2 that excited the American government.

On June 20th, 1944, during a V2 test,

a rocket reached a height of 109 miles.

This officially crossed the boundary of space,

which lies at 62 miles above sea level.

This was the first time in history that man had sent

an object into space.

[Bell] Some people in Washington had sensed that the Cold War was

coming, and with it, the space race.

They saw the V2 rocket as the basis of a design that

could propel America into this new frontier.

[narrator] Established in 1945, this 165-acre top-secret site

in New York was built to reverse engineer

and improve the V2.

This is the Malta Test Station.

[Perreault] The first rocket test of a captured V2 rocket took

place here on Christmas Day in 1945.

[narrator] At this site, around 500 scientists and engineers

sparked the American Space Program.

It was very high tech for its age.

Some of the first computers that the federal government

purchased were used here.

[narrator] But the rockets initially tested here weren't the only

things taken from Nazi Germany.

[Perreault] The buildings actually that we see surrounding us here are

pretty much duplicates of what the Germans built in the 1930s

in Peenemunde, which was the German facility.

[narrator] However, unlike at Peenemunde,

no rocket ever left the ground here.

The Malta site is a ground testing site.

This part of New York has too many people

and too many buildings for the government to risk

launching rockets into the air.

The rocket engines were harnessed to this gantry

and fired up to a quarter of a million pounds of propulsion.

[announcer] ...two...one...fire!

[explosion blasts]

[Perreault] The test lasted as long as 20 minutes.

You can imagine the noise that that would create.

Local people still talk about the fact that the sugar bowl

would fall off the kitchen table with the vibrations from

the rocket tests here.

[narrator] After passing these engine trials in New York,

the rockets went on to be air tested in

New Mexico and Florida.

But at the same time, on the other side of the world,

America's enemies were about to strike a telling blow.

It just never occurred to me that the Russians

would beat us into space.

[announcer] One of the great scientific feats of the age.

[narrator] At the Malta test station in upstate New York,

October 4, 1957, began like any other day...

-[indistinct radio chatter] ...with rocket engines being

tested for the American space program.

[indistinct radio chatter]

[engine blasting]

There was some danger involved, but the observation building

was extremely safe.

It's built out of concrete and steel.

[narrator] But no amount of concrete and steel could save

the scientists here from the blow that the Soviet Union

dealt at 3:28 PM Eastern time.

They launched the world's first artificial satellite,

Sputnik 1.

The launching of Sputnik 1 was a real hammer blow to

the American psyche and their sense of superiority.

[Bell] It may have been bad for the American public, but it was

catastrophic for the Malta test station.

It proved that the Soviets were ahead of them in

the space race.

[narrator] To rally the scientists and the nation,

President Kennedy made a pledge,

one that pushed the rocket technology developed here

to its limit.

We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do

the other things.

Not because they are easy, but because they are hard.

[narrator] To reach the moon, the American space program

went into overdrive,

although not using the buildings here,

their glory days were over, because their mission had

been accomplished.

[Dr. Auerbach] In the end, the Malta site fulfilled its purpose.

They managed to reverse engineer the V2 rocket.

[narrator] The Saturn V rocket that powered the Apollo program was

a direct descendant of the V2s tested here, so these buildings

were pivotal in fueling one of America's proudest days.

[Neil Armstrong, archive] That's one small step for man,

one giant leap for mankind.

[narrator] On July 20, 1969, America won the space race.

Without the research that occurred here, the Soviet Union

would have been steps ahead of us in the Cold War.

I think it would be a very different world

if that had occurred.

[narrator] Today, over 50 years since the end of the Apollo program,

many companies are working on projects to return humanity to

space, a journey which might have been unthinkable

without these structures.

[Perreault] This place represents the start of a new adventure.

I say that America's first steps to the moon

were taken from Malta.

[narrator] In New Orleans lies the ruins of an attraction that

entertained millions before suddenly transforming into

a nightmarish scene.

[Dr. Auerbach] This place must have been absolutely magnificent

at some point.

The roller coaster, the rusting Ferris wheel --

this was amusement on a grand scale.

[Bell] You can still see bumper cars, ice cream stands,

but everything's in a decrepit state.

[narrator] Broken parts of rides lie strewn across the site,

a haunting reminder of its heyday.

Well, I'd like to know how the car got to the front of

the park, because that certainly was not here 19 years ago.

[Dr. Auerbach] Just the stuff that's been left behind here leads me to believe

that the closure was not a planned, orderly affair.

[narrator] The park's future was extinguished by one of the most

dramatic circumstances imaginable.

No one could have predicted how this park was going to end up.

[Henry] I saw it on the news.

We knew that our homes, this park, it was gone.

[narrator] While many of the rides and attractions remain,

the park today is not a welcoming place.

[Galpin] Basically, the swamp has reclaimed itself.

With that comes all the native wildlife in Louisiana.

[narrator] Jeff Galpin has been managing the wildlife here for the last

12 years and knows more than anyone the dangers

that exist here.

Over the years, we've taken over 21 alligators out the park.

There still are a bunch in the park, but until they become

a nuisance, we don't remove them.

[narrator] But Jeff remembers a very different time, as well.

So the craziest part about this area is I remember being here

when it was open, and I had my kids here, and I actually found

some photos of my kids right in this area, put two pictures

side to side, and it's kind of crazy on seeing the difference.

[narrator] Built in the late 1990s,

this was a theme park the size of which the city

had never seen.

Troy Henry is a property developer

and the current owner of the site.

But back in the day, he was just one of many excited

locals eagerly anticipating its opening.

Everyone was super excited because one, it was in

our backyard, and two, we didn't have

anything of that sort.

[narrator] The park officially opened in the year 2000 under

the name Jazzland.

[funky surf music playing]

[narrator] In addition to the roller coaster, the 140-acre site had

a log flume, a massive water ride,

and a Mardi Gras-themed area.

Ryan Bordenave fondly remembers his time working here.

This is where you first became acquainted into Jazzland,

New Orleans.

You were always welcomed with some really nice music.

You can actually see the speakers, actually,

they're still standing after all this time.

[Henry] So when you came in, it was sort of, you can leave

your worries behind -- it was just a fun place.

[Bell] You'd have heard the excited screams coming from people on

the rides, the sound of laughter from those perhaps

watching one of the shows.

I mean, this place was just full of joyful sounds.

[Bordenave] This large structure here is actually part of our theater.

We did small theatrical style shows.

I remember the first one went like it was yesterday.

It was called "Jazz Jazz Jazz."

[narrator] But unknown to most of the visitors,

behind the scenes, Jazzland was in trouble.

[Morgan] I first visited Jazzland within the first few days of

operation, and it struck me as a little bit questionable.

It was a little shabby.

It seemed like they were trying to work bugs out of it.

Just two years after opening,

Jazzland was on the verge of bankruptcy.

[narrator] This vast amusement park in East New Orleans

opened in 2000

under the name Jazzland.

But it wasn't long before this new park was in trouble.

[Dr. Mitchell] Shortly after they opened,

visitor numbers dropped off the cliff.

[Morgan] On the first visit, I got stuck on one of the roller coasters

and was stuck there for almost two hours.

It certainly wasn't a great way to introduce the park to me.

[narrator] In March 2002, the struggling park was offered

a lifeline by one of America's most famous

entertainment corporations.

[Dr. Mitchell] They added bigger, more high-adrenaline rides,

like an inverted roller coaster that was over 100 feet tall

and that went up to 50 miles per hour.

[narrator] The new owners spent tens of millions on upgrades

to the park.

But just three years after taking it over,

a disaster turned everything on its head.

August 26th, we saw this storm approaching the region.

This park closed like everything else.

[Morgan] New Orleans was no newcomer to hurricanes.

There was always this assumption that everything's

gonna get back to normal very quickly.

[narrator] But this was no ordinary hurricane.

It was one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record,

with winds in excess of 170 miles per hour.

This was Hurricane Katrina.

Within 24 hours of Katrina making landfall, things got

immeasurably worse, when 28 of the levees

holding back the floodwaters broke.

[Henry] My home, my neighborhood,

my business, everything was

devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

[Dr. Mitchell] By the end of Katrina, parts of New Orleans were under

15 feet of water.

The devastation for the city was

catastrophic, and the park was not spared.

[Henry] This park had six to eight feet of water,

of the ugliest, nastiest, murkiest water

you could ever imagine.

[Dr. Mitchell] You can still see the high water marks

on the gate to the park.

It's crazy to think that the park was

this much underwater.

[narrator] Employees like Ryan didn't have a chance to take any

possessions or say goodbye to the place

they had worked for years.

Wow, this was my office.

I actually see items in here that I brought, pictures of

family members, and I remember it like it was yesterday.

A lot of great memories, a lot of good times.

[narrator] With the city's resources stretched,

the floodwater stayed in the park for over a month.

Eventually, the water drained, and the extent of the damage

became clear -- it was not a pretty sight.

[Bell] They now had a decision to make --

rebuild, or take the insurance money and walk away.

[narrator] In December 2006, they dismantled

and took away one of the rides.

It was clear the park was being salvaged for parts and was

beyond repair.

[narrator] In recent years, the abandoned park has been

used for big budget movie sets.

This new activity is keeping animal wrangler

Jeff Galpin busy.

[Galpin] You know, in Jurassic World,

one of the crew members saw a wild boar.

So I went off into the woods, and I found mama boar with

a bunch of babies -- she charged me.

We finally got mama under control, but it was --

it was a pretty dangerous situation for a moment.

[narrator] Although its days as a post-apocalyptic filming

location might soon be over, Troy Henry is planning to

redevelop the park to ensure the cameras keep rolling.

The first thing that's going to come out the ground will be

a movie and production studio.

[narrator] And there are further plans for the site to return to

its amusement park beginnings, too.

The other thing we'll have is we'll have two hotels,

an indoor water park.

We'll also have a family entertainment center.

[narrator] For this community that has been through so much,

the good times are coming back

and this time are hopefully here to stay.

In Idaho's Treasure Valley, an imposing fortified structure

marks a watershed moment in the taming of the Wild West.

[Parry] This place is full of stories,

hope, desperation,

tragedy, and redemption.

Back in the day, this would have been one of the worst

places to be in Idaho.

[Meigs] We're in Boise, the state capital.

Today it's a big, modern city, but wasn't that long ago that

this was a rough frontier town.

[Prof. Zarsadiaz] Idaho, in many ways, embodies the folklore of

the old American West.

Lots of vast, wide open spaces, not very populated.

[narrator] On the edge of town, an impenetrable stone compound

sits in the shadow of the surrounding foothills.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes] This looks like some sort of medieval fortress.

You've got turrets guarding the entire site.

[Meigs] Inside, there are multiple buildings.

Some things are in pretty good shape.

Other buildings are falling down or missing roofs.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes] It looks like a very destructive force

just ripped through them.

[narrator] In Idaho's capital, an austere complex stands as

a reminder of the city's rough and raucous beginnings.

Lifelong Boise resident Anthony Parry

knows the secrets held within these stone walls.

There were plenty of outlaw gangs and desperados that came

through and left their names and their stories,

a lot of them here.

[narrator] But this area's history goes back to a time before

law and order prevailed.

As well as being indigenous land, fur trappers and settlers

following the Oregon Trail passed through Boise.

The flood of settlers intensified even more in 1862

when gold was discovered.

[Parry] As some people were striking it rich,

others were not quite as

lucky, and some of them turned to crime.

In the late 1860s, they chose this area here in

Boise to construct the new territorial prison.

[narrator] This is the Old Idaho Penitentiary.

Everything here was designed for doling out

discipline and discomfort.

[Parry] This building could actually house 160 men at full capacity.

There's no plumbing.

In each of these cells, there's a little trap door

where they could actually store

their honey bucket, their toilets.

[narrator] And for those who stepped out of line,

punishment was cruel.

[Meigs] The prison had solitary confinement cells.

They called it Siberia, which probably gives you

an idea of how appealing these accommodations were.

[Prof. Zarsadiaz] Most of the men sentenced to solitary confinement spent

four to six months here, but one actually spent a year

and a half in one of those tiny cells.

[narrator] Those who wound up behind bars here would share prison time

with some of the worst criminals in the West.

One of the most famous inmates in this prison was a guy named

Harry Orchard.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes] He was a bigamist, he was a gambler,

and he had lots of debts.

[narrator] He realized there was money in being a hitman, and his weapon

of choice wasn't a gun or a knife.

It was dynamite.

[explosion booms]

On December 30th, 1905, he assassinated

Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg.

[Meigs] Harry Orchard was arrested for the crime.

His trial was one of the first trials of the century that was

closely covered by newspapers across the country.

[narrator] In his confession, Orchard claimed to have been

contracted by members of the Western Federation of

Miners to assassinate Governor Steunenberg because of his harsh

anti-union stance.

[Prof. Zarsadiaz] Orchard was originally sentenced to death,

but his sentence was commuted to life in prison.

[narrator] And life at the Idaho Penitentiary would have

a profound effect on this cold-blooded murderer.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes] He was visited by Governor Frank Steunenberg's widow.

She forgave him for killing her husband.

[Meigs] She convinced him to adopt a particularly devout form

of Christianity -- he became a Seventh-Day Adventist.

For a guy who claimed to have been involved in more than

a dozen murders, Orchard was a real pussycat in prison.

He even learned how to be a skilled shoemaker.

[narrator] While his requests for parole were repeatedly denied,

Orchard was still granted a freedom very few

prisoners enjoyed.

He eventually got to live outside the walls, away from

the other prisoners, in his own cabin, just because he was

a kindly old man in his older age.

[narrator] While Orchard was undergoing his transformation from

hardened criminal to trusted inmate, others sentenced here

were willing to put their lives on the line.

[Parry] Over the 101 years that the prison was active,

there were 500 attempted escapes,

90 of which were successful.

[narrator] One of those attempts occurred at the newly constructed

women's ward, which in 1921, welcomed one of

the penitentiary's most notorious inmates,

Lyda Southard.

[Parry] Famously, she married 'em and buried 'em.

She would marry prominent men.

She would take out life insurance policies on them

and slowly poison them using arsenic extracted

from flypaper.

She murdered four husbands, brother-in-law,

and her daughter.

[narrator] Lyda Southard was sentenced to 10 years to life

and sent to Idaho Penitentiary.

But unlike Harry Orchard, who chose a path of redemption,

Lyda wanted to be free, whatever the cost.

She ultimately escaped out of her cell by sawing through

the outer bars and climbing out of her cell.

And she had staged a set of planter boxes that were

actually a ladder.

[Meigs] It took a year for the authorities to catch up

with her.

Now she was living in Denver, just gotten remarried,

and she had just convinced him

to take out a life insurance policy.

[Meigs] In the end, she was actually released on parole.

She moved to Utah.

She remarried a man who disappeared,

and there's no trace of him.

And she died of a heart attack in the 1950s.

[narrator] While some escaped and others reformed, the lives

of the criminals that passed through the old

Idaho Penitentiary were forever changed.

But the prison's most notorious days were just

around the corner.

[narrator] From the state's territorial days to the mid-20th century,

over 10,000 men and women were imprisoned

at the old Idaho Penitentiary.

But as it approached its centenary, the inmates were

about to reach their breaking point.

[Parry] In the middle of the century, there are several riots,

and it's around that time that conditions here

were being questioned.

So they started construction in late 1960s on the new prison.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes] Many men knew that they were to be transferred there,

and this created a good amount of uncertainty.

[narrator] This tension would ultimately bring down

the Old Idaho Penitentiary in catastrophic fashion.

[Parry] We had our final major riot in March of 1973.

The dining hall was caught on fire.

The chapel eventually caught on fire.

The commissary was looted, and it took officers along

the wall and officers in the yard with riot sticks to

finally quell that riot after several hours.

[narrator] The dining hall and chapel were never rebuilt.

And by December of 1973, all the inmates were relocated

to the new facility.

With that, the Old Idaho Penitentiary

closed its doors for good.

Today, the Idaho State Historical Society is

preserving the penitentiary,

and its doors are open once again.

[Parry] This is an active museum.

We invite the public to come here all year round to

celebrate the history of Idaho and see the evolution of

the criminal justice system.

[narrator] In the Great Lakes is the home of an unlikely industry that

refused to be squashed by a radical change in the law.

[Korenko] Looking at the building, you can't help but wonder.

Wonder about the lore.

You wonder about the mystery of the place.

[Szulgit] This is Kelleys Island, Ohio.

It's a small landmass in Lake Erie, about four miles

north of the mainland.

[narrator] Hidden in the woods are the remains of

an abandoned structure.

[Dr. Thomas] It's just the shell of a building.

Looks like something catastrophic happened here.

[Korenko] If you didn't know what it was, you might think

it was a castle.

[Szulgit] When you look on the ground,

there are pieces of metal strewn everywhere.

Are these a clue to the building's past?

[Meares] Beneath the ruins is this subterranean lair.

It almost feels like the catacombs.

It's really creepy.

[dripping]

[narrator] This building was at the heart of a movement that made it all

the way to the White House.

But the potency of its product would play a part

in its downfall.

[Dr. Thomas] The flames raced across the structure, smoke billowing

out, ash coming out everywhere.

It's said that as the building smoldered, the entire ground

was strewn with nothing but men, blind drunk.

[narrator] On Kelleys island in the Great Lakes,

Leslie Korenko is exploring

a set of ruins that have been close to her heart

for nearly 50 years.

When I first saw the building, my first thought was, wow!

[narrator] This structure was home to a forgotten industry that Ohio

was at the forefront of nearly two centuries ago.

They produced various kinds of wines up here,

red, white, sparkling.

[narrator] This is the Kelleys Island Wine Company.

And the grapevines, which were key to its success,

only came here thanks to one man.

Around 1810, a keen horticulturalist named

Charles Carpenter moved to the island.

[narrator] No one suspected that Charles's passion for plants would change

the course of history for Kelleys Island.

[Szulgit] In the mid-19th century, the Catawba grapevine was

the new it plant for gardeners across America, and in 1841,

Charles planted it here in his garden.

It was the first grapevine planted on the island.

[Korenko] Carpenter recognized that they grew really well.

Kelleys Island is in a unique situation.

Because of the lake effect, we have later falls,

and we have earlier springs.

And that allows the grapes to mature in a much better way.

It was a cash crop.

[narrator] Charles had excess grapes,

which he sold to be eaten by other islanders.

And when the crop outgrew this demand,

he turned to a new product -- wine.

The wine that Charles made must have been excellent.

It won an award at the 1853 Ohio State Fair.

[Dr. Thomas] Seeing the success that Charles had with his wine, other people

on the island started to do the same,

and it wasn't long before little wineries could be seen

all over the island.

This place was really bit by the wine bug.

[narrator] By 1870, a quarter of the island was covered

in vineyards,

but turning their grapes into wine wasn't easy

for these small, independent producers.

A large part of wine production comes down to storing

the liquid in barrels and under the right conditions so that

the wine can gather its flavor.

This can be for months, even years.

This was really hard for a lot of small wineries.

So they actually banded together and built

this building here where they could store the wine.

[narrator] In 1872, when this building was constructed,

its cellars could store over 150,000 gallons of wine.

It takes your breath away. It really does.

[narrator] Just four years later, the wine made here was being

sold throughout America, Canada, and even Europe.

The wine from the island won national awards.

It was considered to be so good that it was enjoyed

and discussed at a New Year's Eve dinner at the White House.

[narrator] With this success, no one could have predicted

the tragedy that happened next.

[narrator] On Lake Erie, the Kelleys Island Wine Company

had utilized the area's natural grape-growing ability,

making Ohio one of the wine capitals of America.

But island life would play a leading role in exacerbating

a disaster that was just around the corner.

It's hard to imagine that a stone building like this

could burn, but it did.

In 1876, it caught fire.

The fire would have been seen for miles.

They would have been able to see it onto the mainland.

[Szulgit] The cause of the fire is lost to history, but what we do know

is that islanders came from all over the island to fight it.

They weren't firefighters, so they weren't very good at

stopping the fire.

[Korenko] We really had no firefighting apparatus at this point.

It was a bucket brigade from the lake.

[narrator] The fire spread into the cellars below, and as

the wooden wine barrels became engulfed in flames,

they burst open, creating a sea of wine.

Apparently, some of the volunteers took advantage

of the situation, and by the time the fire was well

underway, there were drunken bodies laying all

over the ground.

[narrator] The fire decimated the building,

but its story didn't end here.

The fire did not destroy the company, it was too

profitable, and within a year, they had rebuilt into

the castle that we see today.

[narrator] It was built bigger than before,

more than doubling its capacity

to 350,000 gallons.

Yet this extra storage couldn't prevent the harsh Ohio winters

threatening to bring business to a halt each year.

Lake Erie is not the smallest of the Great Lakes, but it is

the shallowest, and that means that it freezes, making getting

on and off the island very difficult.

[Dr. Thomas] So the Kelleys Island Wine Company came up with a creative

and ingenious method to get the wine from the island

to the mainland.

[Szulgit] The wine was put into these barrels that were sometimes as

large as 1,200 gallons, and they would put them on sleds pulled

by horses to be drawn 4.5 miles to the mainland.

[narrator] Despite overcoming the bitter Midwest winters, this winery

was about to be thrown into chaos as a radical wave of

change swept across America.

On the 27th of May, 1919, the state of Ohio enacted

Prohibition, making it illegal to buy or consume alcohol in

the state of Ohio.

[narrator] Nearly seven months later, on January 17th,

1920, the entire country followed suit, and the era of

national Prohibition began.

Yet, in a cunning twist, it didn't mark the end

of this building.

They sold grapes, which they continued to grow

on the island.

They sold sacramental wine to the churches, and they sold kits

to make wine vinegar.

[Dr. Thomas] Now the production of wine vinegar isn't all that

different from regular wine.

So to ensure that their customers stayed on

the right side of the law, the Kelleys Island Wine Company

made sure to create a label that said, do not add any sugar,

and definitely don't put this in a cool, dry place for

up to two weeks.

[narrator] Despite finding a way to survive Prohibition,

this building didn't last to see alcohol legalized again.

[Korenko] The saga of this building pretty much ends in 1933,

when a massive fire destroyed the entire interior.

According to the newspaper reports, it was a brush fire.

Who knows? Could have been arson.

Nobody was ever really sure.

[Szulgit] This fire came at exactly the wrong time.

With Prohibition, profits were dramatically reduced,

and the company simply didn't have the money to rebuild

this place, and it was abandoned.

[narrator] Today, nearly a century later, the wine industry is making

a comeback on the island.

[Korenko] We now have three active wineries, one of which

it is an incarnation of the Kelleys Island Wine Company.

[narrator] And there's hope that this place, where the industry

began, might come back to life.

[Korenko] The current owners are not sure what they want to do with it,

but we are hoping that they preserve the integrity of

the ruins that are here, since they're such a big part

of the island's history.