The House of Time

By Don Crane

The story depicts a few of the actual things which can be seen and experienced in Old Washington today. Every young person who reads this book will want to become a time traveller and walk through The House of Time; however, the only way to really travel back in time is to visit Old Washington State Park.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 21, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465392848

Don Crane

*to follow*

Book preview

Copyright © 2011 by Don Crane.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2011960160

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4653-9283-1

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4653-9282-4

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4653-9284-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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107493

For

SAMUEL

CONTENTS

Foreword

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

FOREWORD

I discovered Old Washington State Park in the summer of 1962. I had a summer job with the Arkansas Highway Department, mowing the right-of-ways on Hempstead County highways. While mowing through Washington, we stopped for lunch at the store in the center of town, and afterward, I had an opportunity to explore the dusty streets and old homes. Evidently, the park employees were also at lunch, and I had the deserted town to myself. I had been through Washington before, but I had never stopped to see what was actually there.

In high school, I had studied Arkansas history and knew a few facts about the importance of Old Washington. I knew the story of the infamous Bowie Knife, forged for Jim Bowie, by a Washington blacksmith, and I knew that Davy Crockett stopped there on his way to San Antonio, to meet his destiny at the Alamo. I also knew that Washington was the Confederate State Capitol of Arkansas during the Civil War. In future years, I was to learn that there was so much more to the unique little town.

Walking those dusty streets that summer day, it was not difficult for my imagination to connect with the spirits of the pioneers, soldiers, and statesmen who had walked that same ground over a century before. In those days, Washington was one of the earliest and largest frontier settlements in the Arkansas Territory, and it was the final jumping-off place for Mexico. It has seen the likes of Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, Albert Pike, and many others. It has produced governors of Arkansas, and infamous characters like Nicholas Trammel. The spirits of all remain, and their stories are remembered, retold, and relived daily in the town.

My grandson, Samuel, has been blessed to have lived and grown up in Old Washington, and for the past ten years, we have enjoyed many of the festivals and activities in the town. It was easy for me to imagine Samuel as the main character of this story.

The drawings I have done to illustrate this book do not illustrate the story itself, but serve to depict a few of the actual things which can be seen and experienced in the town, today. I hope that every young person who reads this book will want to become a time traveler and walk through The House of Time; however, the only way to really travel back in time, is to visit Old Washington State Park.

Don Crane

CHAPTER ONE

Samuel walked down the