Map of a Portion of the Land of The Alabama Vineyard Company Located in Cullman County, Alabama

A scarce promotional piece for an ambitious (though ultimately unsuccessful) winemaking enterprise in northern Alabama.

In the late 19th century, settlers in Cullman County, Alabama, discovered that the area’s soil was well suited to growing grapes. In January 1898, a group of Chicago businessmen formed the Alabama Vineyard and Winery Company, attracting new settlers to Vinemont, a community along the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. The venture generated a brief period of local development, including the construction of a hotel around 1900 and the opening of a cannery and processing company. Its success proved short-lived, however, as the company failed amid difficulties sustaining the enterprise.

This scarce real estate broadsheet, issued by the Alabama Vineyard Company in 1899, captures the contemporary enthusiasm surrounding the ambitious project. Boldly labeled “the healthiest section in the United States,” a survey by J. R. Carter provides a detailed, large-scale overview of the area around Vinemont. Scores of tracts have been subdivided for sale, with those already purchased marked by small crosses. Cultivated lands, houses, schools, and waterways are carefully noted throughout, documenting the area’s existing settlement and the amenities used to promote further development. Accompanying text along the bottom of the sheet describes the available properties, priced from $5 to $25 per acre and often marketed as complete ‘five-acre fruit farms.’

The ephemeral map is quite scarce and unlisted in WorldCat as of October 2026. One copy is known at the Newberry Library, and another is likely present in the Alabama Vineyard Company corporate archives at Auburn University and at Appalachian State University.

Sources: Appalachian State University; Auburn University;