History of Cheesemaking Mural
Millersburg, Ohio
Heine's Cheese Chalet is a required stop on any cheese country tour so you can see this indoor marvel, sixty feet long, painted by hand. It provides a unique perspective on the rise of Civilization. Come with us, to a time before there was cheese....
The mural begins on the left with a huge wedge of Swiss -- before there was a Switzerland -- crossed by nomads on camels. The mural charts evolving cheesemaking processes, consumption, and its impact to the present day, circa 1980. "Mutiny on the Bounty was partly over cheese," explains the accompanying text, also painted by hand. The illustration style is reminiscent of a child's guide to the Bible; though an elfish, round-faced boy with a half-eaten cheese morsel makes an appearance.
The mural concludes with a tiny billboard promoting the world's largest wheel of cheese, a ten-ton cheddar that was here until someone accidentally kicked the plug out of its refrigerated kiosk in the 1990s.
The entire mural was painted by local artist Tom Miller. "His work," according to Heine's promotional literature, "is now considered to be of collectible worth with increasing value."
Also here at Heine's Cheese Chalet is a 100-foot-long "viewing corridor" where you can watch cheesemaking in action behind glass. There are lots of Amish men with beard nets, stirring curds.