Araçuai City at 678 km from Belo Horizonte, was initiated by Luciana Teixeira from a  plot of land in her farm  Boa  Vista in  the ides of 1817 and has its political emancipation in September 21, 1871 as  per law enforcement of the year 1870.

It is located by the banks of the Araçuaí River in the Jequitinhonha Valley,northeast of Minas Gerais, a micro-region considered the major producer for the finest cachaças from Brazil. The municipal dis-
trict  has an area of  2.326 km2 and  a  population of approximately  35.713 inhabitants as per the
census of the year 2000 by the IBGE  ( Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics ) distributed as :  17.725  males and 17.988 females.  The majority of the population was in the urban zone with 20.461 inhabitants.

Considered as the capital of the northeast of Minas Gerais it was and continues to be a cultural cen-
ter for the  entire  valley, prominent  for the artistic technique of  its artisans, the folkloric traditions
and outstanding teachings to thousands of youngster students of the Colégio Nazareth in a period of more than 76 years.

Araçuaí City

Nazareth College Installations

Vargem Grande is a small place located by the banks of the Araçuaí River, near the point where it flows into the Jequitinhonha River, of which it is the largest tributary.

The seniors tell that many years ago in that region, before crossing the old river at Mariana´s Harbor, muleteers and cattle drivers many times stayed overnight. With the noisy trampling of their mounts, they arrived from the old Calhau - today called Araçuaí - to the neighboring city of Itaporé - today called Coronel Murta -.

In that lodge, around a fire that warmed up a caldron containing a typical bean stew, in the warmhearted reunion of fellow friends, they told their stories, made plans for the future and recalled shared moments, while drinking fine "cachaças" manufactured there, through instructions passed from father to son for decades.

Time went by... New technologies were absorbed, without losing the traditional skills, responsible for the fine taste of the "cachaças" from the Jequitinhonha Valley of which Vargem Grande (VG) is an example.

About the muleteers and cattle drivers, it only remained a longing tender memory ...

Vargem Grande