Last winter I received an email from a friend who lives here in Cranbury, NJ. He said he had found an old M.A. Rue bottle. I was shocked, because he's not a bottle collector. I was surprised he even knew of MA Rue. About a week later I stopped by his house to see the bottle and he showed me a pontil green "MA Rue Cranbury, NJ Mineral Water". His story about how he found the bottle was as unbelievable as the possibility of him finding the bottle.
After a recent snow he was driving along Old Trenton Rd going out of Cranbury and noticed a bottle laying on a pile of dirt right beside the road. The bottle had been brought up by construction of a water pipe along the road before the snow stopped the construction and was finally exposed by the melting snow. Amazingly he stopped and picked up the bottle which he later gave to me.
My fascination with Mr Rue began when my wife's parents bought his old house on Main Street Cranbury in the early 1970s. My brother-in-law a teenager at the time found a green Rue mineral water bottle digging along a dirt bank behind a house across the street. For about 35 years I longed to have my own Rue bottle.That dream was finally realized in the most unexpected and unlikely way last winter.
Mathew Alexander Rue, born in 1816, was a local businessman during the mid and late 1880s. The Rue family is still remembered today in Cranbury as industrious entrepreneurs. The business for which he has been remembered was his cider making company. He owned an apple orchard across the street from his business on Station Rd just behind his home on Main Street. He bottled mineral water, cider and "Champagne Cider" during the mid 1860s. Bottling for Rue was a short lived experiment and the bottles are rare and prized by NJ collectors. His business was mainly supplying wholesale cider to bottling companies, a smart business plan for sure. Local distiller James Scudder apparently managed making the products. His production must have been large. In the basement of what locals still call "The old distillery" is two large cisterns. There are two large cisterns adjacent the building. Their capacity would be in the thousands of gallons. Rue remained in the cider making business through the 1880s and died August 25, 1899. As an active community leader Rue made many contributions to the town, not the least of which is the spelling of the name.
The majority of Rue bottles are found locally and sometimes in the most unlikely place. A few years ago a Rue mineral water was found in a soy bean field during a pre-construction site survey by a local contract archeology firm. Someone I know found one in the wall of their historic home during restoration. The occasionally pop up in people's back yards.
But the best find was a woman who bought the old "distillery" building which has served as a house for about 100 years. Digging flower beds in her back yard shortly after moving in four "MA Rue Champagne Cider" bottles were uncovered. They are the rarest of the rare. Those four bottles probably doubled the previously know examples. They are exceptionally rare. She gave two away but still had two when I stopped by her house to see the bottles.
Another fine example of one version of the Rue bottle was found under the back crawl space of the old building which served as the Cranbury police station many years. A lot of old trash from the mid 1880s had been tossed up under the back of the building and a beautifully clean example was laying among the well preserved trash.
After a recent snow he was driving along Old Trenton Rd going out of Cranbury and noticed a bottle laying on a pile of dirt right beside the road. The bottle had been brought up by construction of a water pipe along the road before the snow stopped the construction and was finally exposed by the melting snow. Amazingly he stopped and picked up the bottle which he later gave to me.
My fascination with Mr Rue began when my wife's parents bought his old house on Main Street Cranbury in the early 1970s. My brother-in-law a teenager at the time found a green Rue mineral water bottle digging along a dirt bank behind a house across the street. For about 35 years I longed to have my own Rue bottle.That dream was finally realized in the most unexpected and unlikely way last winter.
Mathew Alexander Rue, born in 1816, was a local businessman during the mid and late 1880s. The Rue family is still remembered today in Cranbury as industrious entrepreneurs. The business for which he has been remembered was his cider making company. He owned an apple orchard across the street from his business on Station Rd just behind his home on Main Street. He bottled mineral water, cider and "Champagne Cider" during the mid 1860s. Bottling for Rue was a short lived experiment and the bottles are rare and prized by NJ collectors. His business was mainly supplying wholesale cider to bottling companies, a smart business plan for sure. Local distiller James Scudder apparently managed making the products. His production must have been large. In the basement of what locals still call "The old distillery" is two large cisterns. There are two large cisterns adjacent the building. Their capacity would be in the thousands of gallons. Rue remained in the cider making business through the 1880s and died August 25, 1899. As an active community leader Rue made many contributions to the town, not the least of which is the spelling of the name.
The majority of Rue bottles are found locally and sometimes in the most unlikely place. A few years ago a Rue mineral water was found in a soy bean field during a pre-construction site survey by a local contract archeology firm. Someone I know found one in the wall of their historic home during restoration. The occasionally pop up in people's back yards.
But the best find was a woman who bought the old "distillery" building which has served as a house for about 100 years. Digging flower beds in her back yard shortly after moving in four "MA Rue Champagne Cider" bottles were uncovered. They are the rarest of the rare. Those four bottles probably doubled the previously know examples. They are exceptionally rare. She gave two away but still had two when I stopped by her house to see the bottles.
Another fine example of one version of the Rue bottle was found under the back crawl space of the old building which served as the Cranbury police station many years. A lot of old trash from the mid 1880s had been tossed up under the back of the building and a beautifully clean example was laying among the well preserved trash.
] Great story and real cool bottles,...can't imagine seeing one just laying on a snowbank!
