What could it be for?

[Dave Solly]

"Dorthy Fuller" wrote in news:3DTQd.46800$ [e-mail]:

Fall out shelter???

[Tom Miller]

On 17 Feb 2005 10:35:17 -0800, scott [e-mail] wrote:

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 applied to the entire United States. It prohibited anyone from assisting slaves to escape from their masters, among other provisions. Northern Ohio was a main route on the underground railroad. In this area, most of the "conductors" on the railroad were Quakers. There was a substantial Quaker population in Ohio and Indiana in the early- and mid-19th century. Many of them had themselves migrated from North and South Carolina to avoid life in the dominant slave-owning society there.

However, if the house is really only a century old, it is not old enough to have been a station on the underground railroad. It would have to have been built before 1860 or so, and probably a little earlier. Maybe it's older than the OP thinks. Except for this, it does sound like a hiding place for escaping slaves.

The room sounds too large and too deep for a root cellar to me, but I'm no expert.

"Section 7

And be it further enacted, That any person who shall knowingly and willingly obstruct, hinder, or prevent such claimant, his agent or attorney, or any person or persons lawfully assisting him, her, or them, from arresting such a fugitive from service or labor, either with or without process as aforesaid, or shall rescue, or attempt to rescue, such fugitive from service or labor, from the custody of such claimant, his or her agent or attorney, or other person or persons lawfully assisting as aforesaid, when so arrested, pursuant to the authority herein given and declared; or shall aid, abet, or assist such person so owing service or labor as aforesaid, directly or indirectly, to escape from such claimant, his agent or attorney, or other person or persons legally authorized as aforesaid; or shall harbor or conceal such fugitive, so as to prevent the discovery and arrest of such person, after notice or knowledge of the fact that such person was a fugitive from service or labor as aforesaid, shall, for either of said offences, be subject to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding six months, by indictment and conviction before the District Court of the United States for the district in which such offence may have been committed, or before the proper court of criminal jurisdiction, if committed within any one of the organized Territories of the United States; and shall moreover forfeit and pay, by way of civil damages to the party injured by such illegal conduct, the sum of one thousand dollars for each fugitive so lost as aforesaid, to be recovered by action of debt, in any of the District or Territorial Courts aforesaid, within whose jurisdiction the said offence may have been committed."

[Matt]

Did you buy the house from Michael Jackson?

[Andy Hill]

Does the wall dividing the dirt-floored area look newer / different than the rest of the walls of the foundation, or the same age / same construction? Possibly the house was simply added onto back in the past, and access hole was added to be able to access the new crawlspace (OK, so 5' isn't really a crawlspace, but it sure ain't a functional basement, either).

Hard to believe it's a root cellar -- the access sounds incredibly inconveniently placed.

[Joseph Meehan]

No Ohio was not too north. I know of at least one location in Columbus Ohio, very nice place BTW and there were a number of stations along the north shore of the Ohio river.

[jstp]

It could have been just a normal crawlspace, with the access hatch eventually covered by new flooring added later on.

When I had my new hardwood floor installed, I also had a problem about what to do with the 2'x2' access hatch to my crawlspace. It's not a good ideay to close it off, since crawlspace access is very convenient for electrical and plumbing work. The floor installer suggested covering the hatch with hardwood with two inlaid brass handles, and creating a hardwood frame around the hatch. Everything is flat and looks pretty good. The hatch can be opened when necessary but is otherwise unobtrusive. A cutoff wooden ladder rests on the edge of the hatch access hole to provide "stairs" to the crawlspace floor.

[Ken]

floors

basement.

Another possibility that hasn't been mentioned yet is that it used to be a cistern to hold rainwater. I don't think that was a common thing to do, however, I have personally seen one cistern and have heard of others in old houses.

My guess is that it is simply an addition to the house, and when they built the new foundation, they didn't bother to break a hole through the old foundation to access the new. You should be able to easily tell if this section of the house is an addition or not.

As others have said, it wouldn't be part of the underground railroad unless the house was built before the 1860's.

Ken

[Tom Miller]

Another possibility:

My own house, built in 1921, has a 12' x 8' x 3' crawl space tacked onto the end of the basement underneath part of the kitchen. It has a dirt floor and a small opening about 3.5' square that leads into the main basement at the top of the wall. The main basement is ordinary height with a concrete floor. It took me quite a while to figure out why this area was unfinished, until I was up in there fixing a pipe. There's a boulder buried in the floor about the size of a Volkswagen that I guess was too big for the builder to move or blast out. So they just left it and built the house around it.

If it is a hiding place for escaped slaves, someone in town at the historical society might be able to shed some light on it.

[Matt]

You moved into rob and laurie petries old house?

[William Brown]

Not so. I live at the shore of Lake Erie and many of the older homes here were part of the underground railway. The freed slaves were not safe until they got to Canada; boats picked them up here. They had to be kept hidden here as there were many agents of the slaveholders searching for them and, as posted above, the law was on the side of the slave owners.

>

[Dorthy Fuller]

"Dorthy Fuller" wrote

Thanks for all the replies! Sorry I posted about an unknown history, we do know the house was built around 1838. We had contacted our local police department. Believe it or not, we are only allowed to gather some items and suitcases for a couple hours here and then we will be notified when we can return. They have the entire house yellow taped off, Police Line Do Not Cross. This is now more scary than it is exciting! I will give another update whenever we are allowed back inside and are given at least a clue as what in the world is going on.

[Tom Miller]

Whoa! Guess I should have suggested the local historical society sooner. :-)

Do let us all know whazzup.

[D. Gerasimatos]

Why on earth did you contact the police department?!?!

Dimitri

[Ross Mac]

Have Y'all been Trolled?..Ross

[Colbyt]

I smelled TROLL on this one from the first post.

Notice the difference in the dates from 100 years old to 167+ years old.

Let's wait and see how it unfolds.

Colbyt

[Oscar_Lives]

Latest news at

[Goedjn]

That occurred to me, too, but if it was a cistern, they'd probably have parged the walls, the floor would be either clay or some kind of masonry, and you ought to be able to see where pipes for the downspouts and kitchen pump used to be.

[Norminn]

My vote would be a root cellar - the only one I have seen was accessible through trap door in kitchen. Any old canning jars, crocks or barrels down there?

If the house is 100 years old, it is too new to have been part of the underground railroad.

[Ross Mac]

I noticed the discrepancy too so I did a ping plot on the OP's message header and it came back as Cleveland, OH....so who knows....I'll have to agree to wait and see what unfolds.....Ross

[William Brown]

I don't see any inconsistency as to the age of the home. Around here, a century home is one that is at least 100 years old. There is no such expression as a 1.67+ century home.