The Parks and Recreation Board for Somerset Township will provide hot chocolate and coffee, and guests may purchase food from the Burnt Honey Food Truck.
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Somerset Township will host a Holiday Open House in their newly renovated Rathskeller, an old underground speakeasy in McCourtie Park, Dec. 2 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Sharon Grech, Somerset Township treasurer, said the Parks and Recreation Board for Somerset Township will provide hot chocolate and coffee, and guests may purchase food from the Burnt Honey Food Truck. Attendees will also enjoy music, a bonfire, and s’mores, and Santa Claus will be available for pictures.

“We’ve got great volunteers helping who already started decorating it for Christmas,” Grech said.                                                           

William Herbert Lee McCourtie built the Rathskeller on 42 acres in the early 1900s, including six underground garages with two chimneys and underground tunnels. The open house will be held in the garages. 

Grech said Guests are encouraged to donate to Toys for Tots, and donors will be entered into drawings for various prizes for each toy. 

Local businesses, including Somerset Hardware, BTS Party store, and Maverick’s Pizza, donated items for baskets as prize drawings.

“There’ll be a spot for monetary donations for upkeep too, but the open house is mostly just to raise awareness for the Rathskeller,” Grech said.

The Rathskeller will be available to rent in 2024 for showers, parties, and smaller weddings.

After the American Rescue Plan, which funds the renovation of old buildings, allotted each township funds to revitalize buildings, the Parks and Recreation Board started working on the Rathskeller in March 2023 and finished the following October. 

“We were always hoping to be able to do something with that building because if we did nothing, it was going to just rot away,” Grech said. “When we got the funds, we knew we wanted to preserve it.”

McCourtie graduated from high school in Jackson and attended the University of Michigan Law School. 

“He went to Texas and made his money in oil and gas. And then he came back home and bought the place and built a house here, and under the house, he had two tunnels,” said Terrie Reister, a resident expert on the Rathskeller.

A tunnel ran underground to a smaller barn to the north, and a separate tunnel ended in the woods. 

“I’m thinking he had it down there as an escape tunnel,” Reister said. 

McCourtie hosted several famous men.

“Al Capone went to the Rathskeller a lot back in the day because McCourties had a bar in the barns. Henry Ford played cards here too,” Reister said. 

Reister said the six underground garages have three-inch thick, bulletproof doors. McCourties disguised the two chimneys to look like trees. 

In addition to hosting notorious outlaws, McCourtie provided for the people in Somerset Township.

“After you lived in Somerset Township for ten years, McCourtie would pay all your taxes and hospitalization bills,” Reister said. “He was very generous.”

The Rathskeller Holiday Open House will allow visitors to explore McCourtie Park and its architecture while socializing and enjoying refreshments.

“It’s really neat and beautiful in the garages,” Reister said. “The party is going to be wonderful. It’s going to be such a blast.”