The Bootleggers of Montana Mountain: A Rural New Jersey Community's Prohibition Experience

The history of a community is its identity, which sets it apart from all others. Prohibition was a tumultuous time when all communities in the US faced the consequences of a national law which, in effect, legislated morality. Whereas temperance, defined as voluntary self-restraint in alcohol consumption, was consistently promoted by religious groups throughout American history, the year 1920 became the year that alcohol was legally allowed in beverages in amounts of only less than 0.5% by volume. It took 14 years to see the quixotic error of this law and to reverse it. In the meantime, many Americans were not about to allow the government to infringe upon their constitutional right. This is the story of a small rural New Jersey community’s colorful response.