This story is a writing exercise and is linked up to Grammy’s Grid – Short Story Prompt Link Party 6. This is how it works…
- write a story using the short story prompt she provides
- publish your post
- then add it to the link party here
Here is her Short Story Prompt… The old house, with its overgrown garden, was secretive…
disclaimer: This story is loosely based on historical events. The names and places refer to no persons or places in particular.
And here is my story.
The Old House
The old house, with its overgrown garden, was secretive and the floors creaked when I walked in. If walls could only talk…but these walls do talk, and if you listen carefully you can almost hear the whispers.
The Old Town of Madison
The old town of Madison sits on the ridge near the banks of the Missouri River. Main Street Madison used to be the busiest town around, with several thousand people shopping and conducting business there. With 5 churches in town, people filled the streets even on Sundays.
The town had seen its glory days and its population had been dwindling for the past 65 years. There were only 187 people counted on the last US Census.
A row of Victorian houses that were built in the 1840s and the old rock icehouse that is in shambles is all that is left in the old town.
The Old House Was a Pre-fab House
The old house on Main Street was built from a mail-order prefab kit that was floated up the Missouri River to the newly settled river town.
The wealthy new settlers longed for the lavish homes they left back east, but the country was still young, and not many resources were available yet. Prefab house kits were floated across the waterways to St Louis and continued up the Missouri River to the small towns along the river’s edge.
The old house, our house, was one of those houses, as were 3 others that lined Main Street.
All the houses were Victorian in style, all beautiful, elegant, and stately. Gardens surrounded the houses. Flower gardens lined the front and sides of the houses and vegetable gardens were in the back.
All 4 houses were built around the same time, all from Pre-fab mail-order kits, and all with the same secrets. The original owners of the houses and the inhabitants of their basements knew the secrets. The old people of the town kept the secrets safe until well after the war.
Mounting Tensions Over Slavery
It was during the late 1850s, Missouri was a slave state and to its south were the Southern slave states. Tensions in the country were mounting over the slavery issues.
Missouri had strict laws concerning the movement or transportation of slaves, and even free blacks could not travel without being in danger. More laws were being written to “protect its citizens” from the abolitionists that threatened to break the state’s laws by assisting runaway slaves.
Assisting fugitive slaves was illegal and dangerous, and the penalties included branding, fines, or even hanging.
The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 made it illegal to aid fugitive slaves, so a secret system was used to help give them safe passage to Canada.
A Secret System
The Underground Railroad was that secret system. The homes or buildings with basements where runaway slaves could get meals, medical care, and shelter during the day without being seen were called the stations. The routes they traveled between the stations under the protection of darkness were called the lines.
The people that helped the slaves get from station to station at night and gave them shelter during the day were called conductors.
A Dangerous Journey
Bounties or rewards were paid to slave catchers, so the secrecy of the Underground Railroad was paramount. Often, even the women of the house didn’t know about the tunnels.
With the secret system in place, many slaves were able to make their way to the free states of Kansas, Illinois, and even Canada.
Dr Duncan’s House
Our house was part of the network of stations that offered safety to runaway slaves. Isaac Duncan was the town doctor and the original owner of the old house. Dr. Duncan built the house and secretly, along with 3 of his neighbors, built the tunnels that connected the dirt floor cellars under each house. The cellars were dark, with cobblestone walls that hid the doors to the tunnels.
Slaves were hidden in the underground rooms where they were able to eat and rest. The conductors brought food for the next night’s travels. The slaves would repack their small bags with whatever rations the conductors could give them.
Vegetables and berries were picked from the gardens and jerkied meats and cornbread were also made for them to take on their journey.
The doctor treated any ailments that he heard about and even traveled to other stations when his services were needed.
Our Cellar
Our cellar was dark and cold. The dirt floors and tunnels were the same floors that many a poor soul traveled.
And on the inside wall just past the opening into the tunnel on the west side of the cellar are the tally marks that counted the 862 fugitives that stood in that tiny room. 862 people fleeing captivity and 862 souls that slept, while Dr. Duncan stood watch.
No one ever goes to the old house anymore, with its overgrown gardens, and its secrets still carved in the walls, but if you listen closely you can almost hear them whispering.
13 Comments
Leave your reply.