John Woods Visits Vevay 1821

John Woods was on his way to the English settlement inn Albion, Ill. His was one of several accounts of the town that touched upon the Ohio River Valley. Besides giving a brief, first-hand account of Madison, he repeated hearsay about the quality of wine in Switzerland County.

Wood's Two years' residence in the settlement on the English Prairie--June 25, 1820-July 3, 1821

27th. At dusk we passed the Kentucky, a river of the state of the same name, and navigable some distance up the country. After dark we passed Vevay and New Switzerland, and soon after got stuck on a sand bank; some of us got into the water and turned the ark

around, and then we floated off again, and about midnight anchored. This day, twenty-five miles. I regretted passing Vevay after it was dark, as I much wished to land to inspect the vineyards belonging to a Swiss colony settled there, who cultivate the vine on a considerable scale, in the manner of their native country. In the twilight we had a glimpse of their vineyards, but too far off to see much of them.

I have since learnt that a few Swiss emigrants settled at New Switzerland in 1805, and in 1810 they had eight acres planted with vines, and in full bearing, and from which they made two thousand four hundred gallons of wine, then said to be very good. Since that time their vineyards are considerably extended, but their wine of an inferior quality. They also cultivate wheat, Indian corn, hemp, and flax. They are represented to be a sober, industrious people, and much respected in the country. They speak the French language, most of them having come from the frontiers adjoining France.

28th. We landed at Port William, Kentucky, a small place, and procured some very excellent bread. As we proceeded slowly I landed on the Indiana side, and went to two or three cottages; at one of them I got a peck of fine peaches, for which the inhabitants would not take any money. They were hardly ripe, but made very good puddings; as the settlements were new, none of the trees were six years old. At one cabin a man showed me a tree on which there was then growing at least a bushel of peaches; he had planted the stone from which this tree sprung in the spring of 1816. We landed at a cabin in Indiana, where there were a few vines cultivated after the [Note Port William, now Carrollton, is situated at the mouth of the Kentucky River. In 1789-90, General Scott built a blockhouse at that point, which was occupied until 1792, when the town of Port William was laid out.--Ed.] [RWS note: This editor's note is from the 1904 publication, apparently. The narrative was first published in 1822.]

29th. Early in the morning we reached the town of Madison in Indiana, capital of the county of Jefferson, of sixty or seventy houses, a mixture of brick, frame, and log; it has a steam-mill, &c. The country less settled, and on the banks a much less number of horses, cows, sheep, pigs, geese, &c. to be seen.