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In 1834, John Hart Crenshaw began construction of the Hickory Hill Plantation in Illinois, also known as the Old Slave House -- a cornerstone on the left corner of the porch foundation sets the completion date at 1838. Hickory Hill Plantation was known as the Old Slave House because although slavery was illegal in Illinois, slaves could be brought in from slave states to work in the salt mines and Crenshaw needed slaves for labor in his mines. Also Illinois allowed indentured servitude, which forced a kind of slavery on blacks and whites alike. The work was brutal and few free men were interested in such harsh labor. John Hart Crenshaw owned several salt tracts and brought in slaves and indentured servants to work them. Crenshaw soon discovered that even more profit could be found in the slaves than simply using them to mine. Thus, Hickory Hill Plantation became part of the infamous reverse Underground Railroad.
The reverse Underground Railroad captured free blacks and smuggled them South where they were sold into slavery. Free blacks, even in the North, were rarely well educated. Slave traders sometimes tricked them into taking a boat south on an errand. For those blacks not fooled into going south on their own, forcible kidnapping was not unknown. Kidnappers would rendezvous at either the Ohio or Mississippi and put their victims on a boat heading south. John Hart Crenshaw was twice indicted for kidnapping free blacks, and newspapers of the time suggest that his activities were well known, even if unproven.
Crenshaw’s home was well suited as a station on this reverse railroad. He had a carriage door that opened directly into the house, so slaves could be taken swiftly to the slave quarters in the attic. Legend has it that the house also had a secret passage from the basement to the river for taking slaves to the boats that carried them south. Another legend says that Crenshaw bred slaves of his own, using a man called Uncle Bob to father over 300 children. We do know that a real man called “Uncle Bob” Wilson existed and told people he had been kept in the plantation house.
In 1842, Crenshaw was indicted for kidnapping Maria Adams and her children and selling them to a slave trader named Lewis Kuykendall. Crenshaw was acquitted since kidnapping blacks was nearly impossible to prove. Blacks were not allowed to testify against whites – effectively muting all the best witnesses to the crime. Also, for conviction, the prosecution had to prove the kidnap victims were taken out of the state – forcible seizure was not enough. However, even if Crenshaw had been found guilty, the penalty was a fine of $1000 – no jail time.
Crenshaw was identified in newspapers and letters of the time as a known kidnapper, but no convictions were ever made. One newspaper story suggests he was not well liked in the community, stating that he was certainly no saint, despite his church attendance.
Hickory Hill Plantation is known for more than the nefarious deeds of its builder. In September 1840, Abraham Lincoln was in Gallatin County taking part in a series of debates where he hoped to organize the Whig supporters throughout the state. The Crenshaws hosted a party in honor of the debaters. It would have been a ball, with the dancers enjoying the second-floor ballroom. The second floor was designed to be easily converted into a large ballroom because the hall and two of the rooms were made from movable partitions particularly for such events.
As was the custom of the time, Lincoln (and many of the other out-of-town guests) spent the night at Hickory Hill. It’s likely that Lincoln shared his sleeping quarters with one or more of the other unmarried men in the group. It was not uncommon for social functions to include people of wildly differing political beliefs so Abraham Lincoln’s dislike of Crenshaw’s politics would not have prevented him from attending a function at the plantation. [In fact, it was at a bipartisan function in Springfield that Lincoln met Mary Todd.]
In his later years, Crenshaw lost a leg under mysterious circumstances. Legend has it that a slave attacked him with a broad axe. Apparently the loss of a leg, along with his ever increasing wealth, caused Crenshaw to grow tired of his illegal activities as he seems to have spent his later years as a model citizen. Crenshaw died in 1871 and was buried in Hickory Hill cemetery.
In the 1920s, the Hickory Hill Plantation was opened as a tourist attraction – mostly because the owner found tourists showed up wanting to see the infamous house, whether they were invited or not! Tourists claimed to hear cries, whimpers and the rattle of chains in the old attic slave quarters. Legend has it that no one could spend the night in the attic. One story says that in the 1960s two ex-soldiers fled the house screaming after one such attempt to sleep in the old slave quarters.
In the 60s, a small lantern was overturned and a fire started, so the owner stopped allowing people to attempt to spend the night in the old attic. He finally relented to allow one reporter to stay in 1978. The reporter, David Rodgers, claimed to have heard strange sounds but he still lasted the night.
Today the house is not open to the public. Some people hope that it will reopen someday as a historical site under the ownership of the state. Other people would like to see the Hickory Hill Plantation and the unsavory history it represents simply be forgotten. Until the final decision is made about Hickory Hill Plantation, whatever ghosts walk there must walk alone.
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