Unlocking Family History

The house had been in the family since the early 1800s, but it had been decades since anyone actually lived there. It had finally been passed down to Atka, the youngest granddaughter in the family. The reason Atka received the house is because of her grandfather, he had caught her sneaking into the old house multiple times over the years. Her grandfather knew Atka was interested in history, especially family history; and the old house had thousands of stories hidden inside.

It was a cool night, the full moon was rising and the family was asleep in the main house. Atka got dressed in all black clothes and grabbed a bag and her boots. She threw everything out her window then followed behind. She pulls on her boots and makes her way to the old house.

She slowly opens the door, then takes the flashlight out of her bag. She carefully walks in. Even though the house hasnt been occupied for nearly 50 years, it had some relatively modern appliances. She takes out a notebook from her bag and flips to the last page that had writing on it. Suddenly a letter falls out of her notebook with her name on it.

She picks up the letter opening it. She reads,

"Atka,

I've been watching you take interest in the old house over the years. Which is why you inherited by my death. There are many secrets in the house, from your notes, you have found a lot of them. There is something very special about this house I know you'll find. Here is a hint, listen to the sounds of the house. You'll find something you've missed. Stay safe and keep learning.

Love your Grandfather."

Atka wipes a tear from her cheek, she and her grandfather had been very close before he passed. She folds the letter back up and puts it in her bag. She carefully walks around listening to the creaking floor boards. As Atka walks towards the couch the creaking begins to echo. She raises an eyebrow, carefully she moves the couch and lifts the rug to find a square cut in the flooring. She examines the square finding a gap between the rest of the floor and the square. She carefully lifts the square to find another square, though it was mostly rotten wood. She puts on a pair of gloves to lift the second square.

She gasps, in front of her eyes is a small dark room hidden under the house. The steps leading into the room are falling apart, knowing the stairs wouldn't be strong enough to hold her. She gets up, quickly runs out to the shed and grabs a ladder.

She returns to the hole in the floor carefully dropping the ladder down. She takes out the headband flashlight from her bag and adjusts it to fit her head. Carefully she descends down the latter.

Atka's feet touch the ground and she looks around the room. Lined against the wall are old travel trunks. She looks closer at them, knowing the trunks had to have been left there before the house was altered. She carefully pulls a small trunk from the top and takes it back up the ladder.

The locks of the trunk have rusted apart, so she carefully opens the trunk. Inside are a bunch of wanted posters, the words on the page have nearly completely faded, but can still be read, "Wanted Run Away Slave." Atka pulls out some more of the posters all saying the same thing. At the bottom of the trunk the pages were different. From what was left legible Atka figures it was a stack of posters about the consequence of helping run away slaves.

She puts the pages away, closes the trunk, and goes back to the room for another trunk. She spends all night looking through the trunks from the hidden room. The items inside the trunks varied based on the size of the trunk. Some trunks had old iron chains, others had old rags that had clearly been worn while doing hard work. There were small trunks that had more wanted posters.

By the time Atka finished going through the trunks she found the clues she could only assume her grandfather hinted at. Her ancestors were part of the Underground Railroad. They gave the slaves that stayed new clothes, took off any chains they may have had on them. Keeping the evidence hidden, she could only guess that trying to destroy any of the evidence would have brought too much attention.

Atka knew she had to get these items to a history museum. Sun was starting to come in through the broken windows, so she made her way back to the main house. She went to her room grabbed her wallet and keys then went out to her truck. She drove the truck over to the old house and backed it up towards the door. She lowers the tailgate and lifts the window of the bed top. She quickly loads the trunks into the back of the truck, then closes it up. She takes one last look around the hidden room, noticing the bookshelf hidden under the crumbling staircase.

Only a couple books were sitting on the shelf. She takes the books and returns to the truck. She gets in and opens one of the books. Pages and pages of names and old photos filled the book. She picked up another book, then another. All had names and photos.

She sets the books in the passenger seat, covering them with a blanket from the back seat. She then makes her way to the museum.

She calls the museum on the way, informing them she has items of possible interest and will need help unloading. The man that answered her called told her to bring the items to the back of the museum. As she pulls up to the museum a small group of about five men varying in age walks out. She keeps the blanket around the books picking them up and getting out of the truck. She holds them against her side as she opens the tailgate and bed top window. She informs the men of the condition the trunks are in.

The men carefully unload the trunks on a rolling cart and take them into the museum, Atka follows behind still holding the books. The men lead Atka to a large room. The man that answered the phone waiting there, "Ms Atka Tyler I presume."

Atka nods, "Mr. Davis, thank you for meeting me. I'm sure you're interested in how I came to obtain these possible items."

Mr. Davis smiles, "Seeing how young you are, I can't help but question if you obtained these items legally."

Atka smiles sweetly, "My grandfather left me the old house on my family's land. Everything I have with me, came from the house. The house was built in the early 1800s, of course to keep it standing modernization began, but it became too small for the family. My family is big on preserving history even if they don't know what the history is. I however am interested in knowing the history."

Mr. Davis nods, when one of the older men walk over, "Excuse me Mr. Davis."

Mr. Davis looks at the older man, "Mr. Williams, is something wrong?"

Mr. Williams laughs, "Quite the opposite sir. The items Ms. Tyler brought us are absolutely amazing. Clearly from the time of the Underground Railroad. I actually have a question for Ms. Tyler." Mr. Williams turns towards Atka, "Where did you find all of these items?"

Atka smiles, "A house that has been in my family since the early 1800s. They were hidden away in a small room under the house. I'm surprised nothing had fallen apart."

Mr Williams looks at her shocked, "You mean the house is still standing?"

Atka nods, "There have been changes made to the house over the years but no one has actually lived in it for about 50 years. I'm sure there's more history hidden in the house."

Mr. Williams smiles, "Would you object to having a staff member come to inventory the house?"

Atka shakes her head, "I'd welcome it actually. Also if there's a possibility of restoring it to its original build I'd be willing to work with the museum on doing tours of the house."

Mr. Williams struggles to hold his joy, "Ms Tyler, I will have my son Styrder contact you with a time to meet."

Atka smiles as Mr. Williams starts to walk away, "Oh, Mr. Williams, these books were also found in the room with the trunks. I wrapped them so they wouldn't be damaged by the sun."

Mr. Williams takes the books from Atka, with a quick glance at the books, "Mr. Davis, you'll want to see these."

Mr. Williams walks over to an empty table, Mr. Davis and Atka join him. Mr. Williams carefully opens the books to find what he expected to find, "These are a set of logs of the slaves the family helped over the years. I'm sure they did this for a reason, we've never seen one with photos. We just haven't figured out the reason."

Mr. Davis smiles at Atka, "Ms. Atka Tyler on behalf of the museum I want to invite you to the grand reveal of the treasures you've brought us today. Once everything is inventoried and prepared for display, including anything that's found in the house, a new wing will be built in your family's honor. With the items you've brought, we'll be able to learn more about the past."

Atka smiles, "Thank you Mr. Davis, however, I think I would rather have the wing built in honor of the slaves that suffered. Make the statement that they risked their lives to be free and that even the ones that were lost will be remembered from now on."

Mr. Davis nods, "As you wish. You've done a lot for this museum with what you've brought us. I'm sure there's plenty of more history hidden on your family's property. Not just the house."

Atka laughs, "I'm sure there is, and I will continue to look for that history, so it can be given to the public."