In the winter of 1926, a reporter for The Plain Speaker of Hazleton, PA set out to document drinking culture in Pennsylvania’s Coal Region during Prohibition – and found a booming illicit alcohol trade. Despite the 18th Amendment, bootleggers, moonshiners, and street peddlers openly sold liquor across Carbon, Luzerne, and Schuylkill counties.

Prices, quality, and supply were discussed freely, while enforcement efforts barely made a dent. The Coal Region earned a reputation as one of the “wettest” parts of the state, where alcohol remained easy to find, especially at Christmas.

This exposé offers a vivid look at how Prohibition failed in coal country.

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For more than 11 years, this site has been a place where I got to write stories – about Pennsylvania, the Coal Region, war, labor, immigration, and the people who lived through history’s hardest moments. Now, those stories are finding a new home on YouTube.

We’re taking a decade’s worth of blog posts and turning them into short-form and documentary-style videos. Some of the stories will be familiar, but many will come with new context, fresh research, and insights I’ve gained along the way.

Video allows us to bring voices, images, and places together in a way the written word sometimes can’t. Whether it’s a forgotten newspaper story, a powerful letter from the past, or a Coal Region mystery, these videos are meant to deepen the conversation and reach new audiences.

If you’ve been reading here for years, I hope you’ll come along for the ride. Subscribe to the YouTube channel, share the videos, and help keep these stories alive in a new way.

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You can read the original story here!

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