Recently I ran across an old pen and ink drawing that I had rendered depicting my Grandma and Grandpa Brackin's house. I worked from a photograph and finished it right around the time of my high school graduation. The trees were the most difficult part to draw, so I decided to exclude most of them from the picture.
The house had been built in the 1850s and was part of the underground railroad before the American Civil War. There was a large old built-in cabinet that was designed so that the shelves could be removed and the very back of it would open to reveal a tiny hidden room. Two or three people could hide in their for a short time if needed and there was no other access to the room. The cupboard was torn out and the room was sealed off when the kitchen was remodeled, which was OK because that hidden room was creepy!
For generations, the house was passed down the line, remaining in the family. The original idea was that neither the house nor the land (22 acres) would ever be sold and it would always stay in the family. Unfortunately, that chain of ownership was broken in the late 90s when my grandma sold the house a few years after my grandpa died.
Now all of the land has been parceled off and the house has been completely remodeled and today it sits in the middle of a neighborhood. When I was growing up it was surrounded by woods and a small corn field. Even though it's changed a lot, I still remember it this way:
