The Winery At Shale Lake

Open: Year-Round

One of twenty-two coal mines operating in the area in the early 1900's, the Mount Olive-Staunton Coal Company Mine Number 2 was sunk in 1904 and closed in 1957.   Mined with the room and pillar panel method of extraction the Number 2 mine was the largest Herrin mine in the area.  

In 1910 the total coal production from the local mines was over 4 million tons with over 4600 men employed in the shafts.  After the mine closed, Mobil Mineral Resources, Inc. worked with the Abandoned Mined Lands Reclamation Council to reclaim Number 2 and then donated it to the local area Boy Scout organization for recreational use in 1989.

The Boy Scouts sold the property for private use in 1996.  Ten years later, David and Susan Wesa found the property while searching for acreage to start a Vineyard in hopes of fulfilling a retirement dream of owning a Winery.  And now...by God's grace the dream has begun.