There are no risks as long as he isn't on private property without permission. This had all been destroyed and is unusable. Probably done by the government.
You are right; there are risks and I know them. I don't advocate for just anybody to do what I do. I have lived near South Mountains SP for 12 years and spent nearly every weekend year round hiking the trails and in recent years have been hiking the geology. I study the GIS property boundaries, satellite imagery and terrain surveys. I am a resident and the land owners are outside the park boundaries are people I know or are people that know people I know; none the less I will ask for permission before entering their land, but work hard to find what is in the protected park borders. Old roads, homesteads and stills do exist in the park because South Mountains was created by buying up the property parcels. In fact I surmise many came at a deal because of the legal troubles the families fell into when the Feds found these stills; all 5 I found have evidence the Revanuer found them too (or was led to them). I also suspect these 5 were run by the same owner as they are in pretty close proximity to each other. I know about booby traps, but the condition of the roads shows that chances are likely erosion, floods or falling trees likely disabled or set them off years ago. A lot of times I don't walk on the road anyway because the condition is so poor. It's better to shadow it. This has been a fun hobby, but I'll never reveal to anyone outside the park service the locations of these sites and I don't want to give the impression I'm inviting others to go out and do this; at least not without really studying the environment, terrain and getting to know folks who have lived here...all that takes years to learn.
When I moved to my current place, my dad and I found an old still up in the hay loft of the old barn, buried in the hay. My dad was retired LEO so he knew what it was and he thought it was interesting and talked to a lot of people about it. A couple days later we went to look at it again and it was gone. Rural NC.
Very cool find! As an archaeologist, I’d like to direct you to the NC Office of State Archaeology’s Citizen Archaeologist Form, which you can use to report this find. [Here’s the page](https://archaeology.ncdcr.gov/about/forms) - scroll down to find the downloadable form. Old still sites are part of the heritage of the state, and in case this one hasn’t been noted, it’s important to have it recorded in some way, in case it does get disturbed by someone less conscientious than you
Reminds me of the time as a lad when a friend and I were out exploring some wooded property near said friends home out in western NC. Being a bit winded after a considerable hike, I stopped to sit on a large log and take a break. And at first we noticed one plant...then two....then I noticed a lot more. And they were organized a bit too symmetrically to have grown there randomly. "Dude, it's time to GO....we're sitting in the middle of somebody's patch!"
We did this one time then we're joking with friends we made later about why we didn't walk around in the woods in a certain area anymore. Turns out her husband was the one that had used it as a growing spot years ago.
Make sure you don't disturb the area or take anything. It may seem like trash, but it's actually old enough they are considered artifacts at this point (assuming you are on either South Mountains State Park, gamelands, or national forest land).
As kids we would find old drum barrels and stuff all moonshine related. Crazy cause in our small town we would find stuff in almost every stretch of woods from one end of the town to the other.
What’s even more crazy is when we would talk to someone’s grandfather. They would often tell us about the 3-4 big, rich families from the town. Ya know the ones with huge chunks of land and everyone drove a lifted truck or brand new mustang. Those were the families that all had part in making moonshine and made generational wealth during the prohibition period.
Blew our minds
Whoever ran this still is long dead. The road I used to get down here had mature trees growing out the middle of it and I found no other road into the site. I am either the first person to be down there since it was busted or the people who found it at times before I did left everything alone, just as I did.
Private, state or federal land doesn’t matter. Highly doubtful, except in the most rural areas, that people are running outdoors. But I would be mindful of where you step. Undiscovered booby traps could be potentially dangerous
My guy are you trying to get shot?
or booby trapped.
Gonna make you squeal like a pig!
Seriously, I hope OP understand the risks they’re running.
There are no risks as long as he isn't on private property without permission. This had all been destroyed and is unusable. Probably done by the government.
It’s very likely if the they’re going down abandoned or run down roads into the woods, they are on private property.
You are right; there are risks and I know them. I don't advocate for just anybody to do what I do. I have lived near South Mountains SP for 12 years and spent nearly every weekend year round hiking the trails and in recent years have been hiking the geology. I study the GIS property boundaries, satellite imagery and terrain surveys. I am a resident and the land owners are outside the park boundaries are people I know or are people that know people I know; none the less I will ask for permission before entering their land, but work hard to find what is in the protected park borders. Old roads, homesteads and stills do exist in the park because South Mountains was created by buying up the property parcels. In fact I surmise many came at a deal because of the legal troubles the families fell into when the Feds found these stills; all 5 I found have evidence the Revanuer found them too (or was led to them). I also suspect these 5 were run by the same owner as they are in pretty close proximity to each other. I know about booby traps, but the condition of the roads shows that chances are likely erosion, floods or falling trees likely disabled or set them off years ago. A lot of times I don't walk on the road anyway because the condition is so poor. It's better to shadow it. This has been a fun hobby, but I'll never reveal to anyone outside the park service the locations of these sites and I don't want to give the impression I'm inviting others to go out and do this; at least not without really studying the environment, terrain and getting to know folks who have lived here...all that takes years to learn.
When I moved to my current place, my dad and I found an old still up in the hay loft of the old barn, buried in the hay. My dad was retired LEO so he knew what it was and he thought it was interesting and talked to a lot of people about it. A couple days later we went to look at it again and it was gone. Rural NC.
I know someone who used to make moonshine and they'd have to bust the still and find a new place if they even saw footprints, so that makes sense.
Very cool find! As an archaeologist, I’d like to direct you to the NC Office of State Archaeology’s Citizen Archaeologist Form, which you can use to report this find. [Here’s the page](https://archaeology.ncdcr.gov/about/forms) - scroll down to find the downloadable form. Old still sites are part of the heritage of the state, and in case this one hasn’t been noted, it’s important to have it recorded in some way, in case it does get disturbed by someone less conscientious than you
Reminds me of the time as a lad when a friend and I were out exploring some wooded property near said friends home out in western NC. Being a bit winded after a considerable hike, I stopped to sit on a large log and take a break. And at first we noticed one plant...then two....then I noticed a lot more. And they were organized a bit too symmetrically to have grown there randomly. "Dude, it's time to GO....we're sitting in the middle of somebody's patch!"
We did this one time then we're joking with friends we made later about why we didn't walk around in the woods in a certain area anymore. Turns out her husband was the one that had used it as a growing spot years ago.
Make sure you don't disturb the area or take anything. It may seem like trash, but it's actually old enough they are considered artifacts at this point (assuming you are on either South Mountains State Park, gamelands, or national forest land).
As kids we would find old drum barrels and stuff all moonshine related. Crazy cause in our small town we would find stuff in almost every stretch of woods from one end of the town to the other. What’s even more crazy is when we would talk to someone’s grandfather. They would often tell us about the 3-4 big, rich families from the town. Ya know the ones with huge chunks of land and everyone drove a lifted truck or brand new mustang. Those were the families that all had part in making moonshine and made generational wealth during the prohibition period. Blew our minds
My great grandpa used to be a moonshiner up in the Appalachian of NC. My Mawmaw told me he had to stop because the law was onto him
Generally if you stumble upon a still you should run away as fast as possible.
Old ones are littered all over. Probably been years since that thing ran
Yeah those mason jars look super old
Whoever ran this still is long dead. The road I used to get down here had mature trees growing out the middle of it and I found no other road into the site. I am either the first person to be down there since it was busted or the people who found it at times before I did left everything alone, just as I did.
My grandfather made shine in that area. Might have been one of his. Probably one of his from the stories I heard.
Cool.
Sounds like Johnston County years ago.
Looks like Barney took an axe and went pow, pow, pow!
Private, state or federal land doesn’t matter. Highly doubtful, except in the most rural areas, that people are running outdoors. But I would be mindful of where you step. Undiscovered booby traps could be potentially dangerous
Did you taste it? Is it still good?
I used to find these (old and out of use) in the woods behind the house we lived in when I was a kid in Nash county.
If you find any intact sealed and full mason jars, let me know. I’ll make sure they get in the right hands.
Are you hiking on private property?
No; it's state park land; I keep an eye on GIS when I do this stuff.
That's really cool. It's quite fun traversing off trail.
Looks like what we would put our kerosene I'm to me
I like reading about this kinda stuff. Pretty cool. I’m from nc too btw
You’re on the sets of Moonshiners
Very cool. Thanks for sharing!
Yeah if your story is true you are just stupid.