Mount Vernon Dairy

See much larger photo with airplanes HERE, and see the event recorded at the bottom of this page.

I cant remember a time in my life that when passing the Mount Vernon Dairy on old Rt 35 (previously Rt 17) near Point Pleasant wasnt a treat. As a young child, I would strain to capture the images of the magnificent house, the grand barns and the layout of the dairy before the 55 mph speed limit would whisk me further down the road. Oddly enough, when I was 16 and old enough to drive, I took my girlfriend to Mount Vernon on our first date. There was something about this amazing site, "out in the middle of nowhere" that always captured my attention. I grew up on Mount Vernon milk, and to this day I consider it the best milk in my lifetime. Nothing today compares to the old Mount Vernon milk, and here you'll see why....

Mount Vernon Dairy

This Gazette Article from 1926 illustrates the grand home and dairy operation.

Mount Vernon Dairy

This article discusses the entire operation, including the plant in Charleston, of which anyone who ever lived on the West Side was probably familiar with. No expense was spared to make the Mount Vernon Dairy the most beautiful business this valley ever saw. Unlike the other dairies who's ugly industrial buildings dotted the landscape, Mount Vernon was a class act that you didnt mind having in your neighborhood.

The official address was Pennsylvania Ave. Charleston WV

Mount Vernon Dairy Milk Bottle

Mount Vernon Milk Bottle

The House Today.....

I took this photo a couple of years ago near the holidays.

Just a couple of the beautiful rooms in the house....

Mount Vernon Dairy WV

About that old photo at the top of the page:

The very day that photo was taken, the article below appeared in the Charleston Gazette. It was the event of the year, with airplanes carrying dignitaries, taking off from the grass strip in Kanawha City and landing across the road from the Mount Vernon Dairy. Everyone else had to drive gravel and sand roads because there was no paving in this area yet. It was said that the farmers in those parts were stuck 6 months out of the year due to the bad road. All the while, they could see the train whizzing by on the other side of the Kanawha River. It would be quite some time before Blacktop would reach Rt 17 (later Rt 35) in front of the farm. Today, the new four lane runs behind the farm while old Rt 35 in front. It really is a paradise now....

Mount Vernon Dairy

Just a few short months after the top photo was taken, the greatest stock market crash in U.S history would occur, on Black Thursday, October 24, 1929. Somehow it didnt stop the Mount Vernon Dairy ...

Panorama courtesy of Breton Morgan

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