On our recent trip to Savannah, we wanted to tour the American Prohibition Museum. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time, so when my daughter and I returned to Coastal Georgia a couple of weeks later, we made a stop here.

Located in Savannah’s City Market, the museum opened in 2017. It encompasses 13 immersive galleries that detail not only the 13 years of prohibition but also the history of the movement that began well before the 20th century and the after-effects that persist today.

American Prohibition Museum

Inside the lobby, we viewed a 1918-era beer delivery truck filled with wooden kegs. A wax-figure delivery driver is angrily shaking his fist at the two women blocking the entrance of the saloon. They are holding up signs reading “Bread not Beer” and “Liquor is a Curse.” Above the scene is an anti-temperance quote by Abraham Lincoln from 1860.

It is here that our guide, dressed as a 1920s flapper with a cloche hat, introduces herself to our group and begins the tour of the 6,000-square-foot museum. It doesn’t matter if visitors are pro-temperance or anti-temperance; she is there to tell us what happened on both sides during this time in history.

At the top of the second floor, a wall-sized colorized photo shows Brooklyn kids with pails and buckets in the streets in 1926. They are scooping up beer flowing down the street as Federal agents destroy barrels of booze outside a nearby business. It is doubtful that the kids were imbibing; rather, they were probably collecting it for their parents or to sell.

Temperance Movement

Our docent filled us in on the pre-prohibition climate. Politicians often gained votes by supplying voters with booze. Even George Washington did this! And with no minimum drinking age, alcohol was readily available. Life was hard back and many men pursued alcohol as a remedy.

On the flip side, many wives bore the brunt of their husband’s over indulgences. Some women faced poverty as their husbands spent all their earnings on alcohol. Others experienced physical abuse, especially after soldiers became alcoholics during the Civil War and returned home as different men. And don’t forget, “respectable” women weren’t allowed inside saloons so it’s not like they could drag their spouse out of there. 

This led to the creation of many temperance movements, including the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and the Anti-Saloon League. Exhibits highlights some of the biggest pro-temperance leaders such as Wayne Wheeler and Carry A. Nation.

Nation, who had been widowed by her alcoholic first husband, took temperance to a whole new level. In the early 1900s, she took bricks, stone, and later an ax to destroy many saloons in Kansas. Technically, Kansas had become dry in 1880, so she was just “enforcing the law.” She later visited other states, paying her jail fines with proceeds from lectures and hatchet-pin sales.

Prohibition Years

The 18th amendment passed in 1917 and took effect in 1920. WWI fueled anti-German sentiment, which also helped prohibition become law. Many American breweries were owned by German-Americans. Our docent said that many soldiers left for WWI and came back to a totally different country where liquor sales were now illegal.

When prohibition went into effect, alcohol sales were the country’s fifth-largest industry. While teetotalers rejoiced, saloon owners and many others, including farmers, warehouse workers, and delivery drivers, lost their jobs. Also, states like New York, which relied heavily on state alcohol excise taxes, lost millions of dollars in revenue.

I always wondered how large beer manufacturers ramped up production after Prohibition ended. It turns out, many of these companies stayed in business during Prohibition by creating other products. Anheuser-Busch developed Bevo, a “near-beer,” as well as ginger ale and flavored sodas. Under its Budweiser label, the company sold frozen egg products, especially to bakeries. Other beer manufacturers sold cheese, ice cream, and malt syrups. A few companies still made alcohol, the legally approved medicinal alcohol.

Medicinal alcohol? You bet. For years, doctors treated ailments with a sip of brandy and other alcoholic remedies. As long as your doctor had the required prescription pad, he could prescribe up to a pint of alcohol every ten days for anything from a cough and flu to old age. Interestingly enough, Walgreens Drug Store grew by leaps and bounds during this time, providing much of the prescription alcohol. 

Negative results of Prohibition

For years, rural farmers had been distilling their own alcohol. To avoid taxes, they made it under the cover of darkness, where it got the name moonshine. Demand escalated during Prohibition, and unfortunately, less experienced moonshiners entered the market. The result was an inferior product that sometimes contained impure or harmful toxins.

There was money to be had in bootlegging – the making and distributing of alcohol. Prohibition paved the way for organized crime figures such as Lucky Luciano, Al Capone, and Frank Costello. The mob also operated speakeasies and had the cash resources to bribe officials to look the other way.

By the 1920s, women’s roles had changed. They now had the right to vote, started cutting their hair, and raised their hemlines. These flappers also wore makeup, danced the Charleston, and entered speakeasies. One exhibit allowed us to practice the Charleston dance steps in front of a large mirror. What we didn’t know until later is that people in the speakeasy could watch us through the one-way mirror!

When we came to the secret door, our docent gave us the password to enter the speakeasy. Inside, bartenders served drinks. On the walls, we looked at newspaper headlines announcing the end of Prohibition in 1933. Before concluding, our guide took us to a room dedicated to NASCAR.

Think about it. What did runners need to outrun the police? A fast car. Many modified their engines to make them faster, especially after Ford’s V-8 hit the market in 1932. Once Prohibition ended, those who caught the racing bug needed an outlet. NASCAR stock car racing officially began in 1947 and still exists today.

Conclusion

While a bit on the pricy side, I still enjoyed the museum and learned things I didn’t know before. This is one of those museums that can be anywhere in the country, as it doesn’t necessarily relate to just Savanah. I wouldn’t take kids here only because I don’t think they’d find the subject matter interesting and there’s a lot of text to read in the displays. To learn more about the museum, visit the website here.

The Prohibition museum is best if you purchase the guided tour. Starting around $42, you get a 45-minute guided tour and a free cocktail in the speakeasy. Just note that if you visit on a Sunday, the museum can only serve mocktails due to Georgia state law. Purchase tickets early because slots fill up fast. We purchased our tickets 72 hours in advance for a Saturday, and we had only one or two time slots to choose from.