Federal agents raided this Dutchess County farm in 1932 and found Dutch Schultz's underground concrete bunker — two 2,000-gallon stills, 15,000 gallons of mash. It's now a working distillery you can tour.
98 Ryan Road, Pine Plains, NY 12567
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Tours $1 per person, includes three craft beverage samples. Tasting room and farm market open to walk-ins on operating days.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Original tunnel network is not accessible due to liability; the main bunker (capacity 200 people) and barn are ground-level.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1932 · Dutch Schultz financed underground bootlegging operation on this site during Prohibition · Federal agents raided October 10, 1932 — largest bootlegging find in Dutchess County at the time · Original concrete bunker and tunnel network still accessible on the 400-acre property · Reopened as working distillery and museum in July 2016
Arthur Flegenheimer, born in the Bronx in 1902, built one of New York's most dangerous criminal organizations during the Prohibition era and was known publicly as Dutch Schultz. Among his many operations was a distillery buried beneath Harvest Homestead Farm, a rural property in Pine Plains, Dutchess County, then accessible only by unpaved road.
The underground infrastructure was substantial. A network of concrete tunnels connected multiple chambers — some large enough to shelter three trucks and a sedan — along with springhouses drawing from underground aquifers and a swimming pool repurposed as a cooling system for the stills. Two 2,000-gallon stills operated within the bunker complex, serving a production chain that stored thousands of gallons of mash at any given time.
Federal agents raided the farm on October 10, 1932. They found and destroyed the high-pressure boilers, both stills, approximately 15,000 gallons of mash, and 10,000 pounds of sugar. Local press coverage described it as the largest single bootlegging discovery in Dutchess County history. Schultz himself was not present.
The farm remained in private hands for decades after Prohibition's repeal in 1933. The current operators opened Dutch's Spirits at Harvest Homestead Farm in July 2016, constructing a three-story, 12,000-square-foot Dutch barn around one of the original tunnel entrances. The 400-acre property is now an operating distillery and agricultural destination. The signature product, New York Sugar Wash Moonshine, directly references the operation's Prohibition-era method. The main bunker — large enough to hold 200 people — is open to visitors on tours. The original tunnel network remains closed due to structural liability concerns.
Sources
Dutch Schultz was shot in a Newark chophouse on October 23, 1935, dying the following day. He never returned to the Pine Plains operation after the 1932 raid. No paranormal accounts are associated with the property in available sources, and the site makes no haunted claims.
What the farm does trade on is the genuine strangeness of the documented history: a working underground city, hidden beneath a rural Dutchess County farm, financed by one of Prohibition's most violent operators. The 1932 raid description — agents finding interconnected concrete tunnels, cooling pools, and industrial-scale stills — is unusual enough that the site's historical value holds without embellishment.
The distillery's signature product is named New York Sugar Wash Moonshine, a direct reference to the operation's production method. The Schultz connection is front-and-center in all marketing, branding the site as a piece of recoverable criminal history rather than preserved tragedy.
Notable Entities
A $1 guided tour walks visitors through the story of the October 1932 federal raid and into the original underground concrete bunker — a sprawling network that once housed three trucks, two 2,000-gallon stills, and 15,000 gallons of fermenting mash. The main bunker holds up to 200 people. The original tunnel network is not accessible for liability reasons, but the scale of the operation becomes clear from what remains.
The tasting room in the three-story Dutch barn serves beverages from 75+ New York producers. A farm market sells artisanal products on-site. Walk-in visits welcomed on operating days.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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