History of Jacob Hill Farm 1723 - 2023 #historic #Seekonk #history 300 year #anniversary

In addition to writing novels, one of my passions is visiting and researching historic sites.  Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the historic Jacob Hill Farm in Seekonk, Massachusetts.  It is now an amazing wellness center, with three of the original structures still gracing this beautiful property, 300 years after the farm was first built!  Before it became the wellness center, it was Jacob Hill Inn, Seekonk's first professional bed and breakfast.  The owners of the Inn purchased the property in 1991, and did a great deal of work to restore the landmark buildings, while also researching the property's history.  Much of this post includes information from their website and television appearance, used with permission.  Visit the site for more details and photos at HistoricJacobHill.com  and view the corresponding 3-part televised discussion on Discovering Seekonk History.   

The land itself was first deeded to Reverend Samuel Peck by the Wampanoag Tribe.  It passed through generations of his family and was eventually deeded to Thomas Allen in 1722.  With 10 children, building a large home was necessary, and it still stands today.  When Calvin Jacob, a prominent deacon, married into the family, the property eventually acquired the name Jacob Hill Farm.

The "Front House", known as the "Club House"
 during the years it was a hunt club
(and then again when it was the Inn), as it appears today

In 1915, the wealthy Grosvenor family purchased Jacob Hill Farm, in part due to their love of horseback riding.  In 1924, it became the Jacobs Hill Hunt Club, a members-only establishment possibly arising in part to the restrictions of Prohibition.  The Grosvenors donated the Front House to the club, and that became the Club House.  Members included such prestigious figures as former Governor of Rhode Island William H. Vanderbilt and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Roger Firestone, and Mrs. Gammell Cross of the family that founded what is now A.T. Cross, one of the oldest pen manufacturing companies in the world. (There are even some Knights on the list!  Probably no relation).  See the member (box holder) list from 1939 and other photos on the Historic Jacob Hill website under the History tab. 

The arbor was once a coach stop ~
note the seats on the sides!

In another current photo of the Front House, you can see the arbor that was once a coach stop on the Providence to Taunton route.  Note the seats on the sides for waiting passengers.  One of the other three buildings still standing today was originally a barn which was converted to a carriage house.  The third structure, known as "The Barn", was the barn constructed by the Hunt Club.  It was painted white...a symbol of affluence at the time as white paint cost more in those days than the usual red paint associated with barns on farms.  It is still white today.

The Hunt Club was active from 1924 -1943, hosting horse shows and fox hunts (where no foxes were actually harmed!  Only their scent was used for the chase).  The property passed through several families until it was purchased as an Inn.  At one point, a member of the Atomic Energy Commission resided there, and there was a phone in the Front House that connected directly to the White House.

Hello? ;)
Door to the Front
House basement

So, with such a rich history, this author of ghost mysteries had to ask about any unusual happenings.  One person told me he saw the door to the basement open by itself while standing in the current kitchen of the Front House, but of course, it is a very old (but very beautiful) building.  

Speaking of kitchens, the Front House still holds fireplaces original to the building, including the one pictured below, which was a cooking fireplace (note the long iron arm).  To the right, the small door still houses a beehive oven, once used to bake bread.

Original cooking fireplace and beehive oven (behind door)

I've posted a few more of my photos below!  Thanks for stopping by, and if you enjoyed this post, you might also want to check out a few of my other posts on historic places: Historic Mt. Washington Hotel, Historic Falmouth, Cape Cod, Haunted, Historical Barnstable, and Visiting Brewster.

Side view of the Front House

Gazebo off the Front House

Wallpaper in
the Front House

The Carriage House, now a gym and offices

Sunset at Jacob Hill

 

 

 

Young Love is in the Air #YA #Romance #Book Fair! #FridayReads #teenreads #yalit

Revenge, Romance, and a Rogue Fallen Angel collide
in this award-winning YA PNR

Fans of Young Adult books filled with first love and coming-of-age stories, this is for you!  The Young Love is in the Air Book Fair is featuring 31 YA titles, all romance with various subgenres represented such as paranormal, fantasy, sports, dystopian...something for everyone!

My YA Paranormal Romance Divine Fall is featured, and this is a story of Forbidden First Love filled with Supernatural Suspense.  As the last surviving Nephilim, Dothan is an outcast in both worlds...will he risk her life to seek his revenge?

Divine Fall is only 99c on Kindle, so grab your copy for less than a buck!

YOUNG LOVE IS IN THE AIR Book Fair

Saying Goodbye to My #Dad #grief

The tumor appeared right after Thanksgiving, a hard marble on the side of his neck.  By March, it had grown to the size of a softball, and chemo and radiation had begun.  But my father lost his battle with throat cancer last week, at the end of April, and I'm still reeling with grief, shock, and the finality of saying goodbye.  Of never hearing his voice again, never laughing with him again, never hugging him again.

Reading The Night Before Christmas, 1970

So I thought I'd dedicate my blog post today to a few of the stories about my dad that relate to my love of reading, and by extension, my desire to become an author myself.

I absolutely credit my dad with my passion for reading.  He loved to read.  So beyond just reading picture books to me as a child, my father made sure I had stacks of novels, chosen to match my interests, once I could read myself.  He would visit the library each week, and head straight to the Children's Librarian, who would help him pick out the weekly haul.  Usually, the subject matter revolved around horses and young riders (Winter Pony, Summer Pony, Misty of Chincoteague, The Blind Connemara), animals in general (Benji, The Incredible Journey, Charlotte's Web, A Cricket in Times Square), mysteries and adventures (Encyclopedia Brown, all the Choose Your Own Adventure books, Baby Island)...but sometimes other genres and subject matter made it into the pile, just by virtue of the sheer amount I could read in a week.  It was difficult to keep up with.

So when I was in second grade, a book titled Jane-Emily, by Patricia Clapp, came home from the library.  The tag line read "A ghost story...and a love story".  I.  Was.  Hooked.  I'd found my ideal mix of elements: a spooky haunting, mixed with romance (in this case, a very sweet romance, set in the early 1900s).  I read it over and over again.  I made my best friend read it.  Since then, we're both still scared of those silvery reflecting balls that sit on pedestals in yards.

Jane-Emily introduced me to paranormal romantic suspense, and this childhood favorite has made a lifetime mark, impacting what I write as an author--yep, combinations of ghost stories and love stories, although the romantic element in my novels is decidedly steamier, as my books are meant for more mature readers.  But I still go back to revisit Jane-Emily from time to time--my copy from eBay sits on the bookshelf--and I even read it to my two boys when they were little.  And I may never have discovered this book without my Dad's dedicated trips to the library to keep me reading for pleasure.

The second story is from a family vacation to Bethany Beach (where I now get to sign books on occasion) when I was around 12 years old.  We made sure I had my usual stack of books to tide me over for the week, but since it was summer and we spent the days relaxing, I read even faster than usual.  I was done in the first three days, and four more days with no new reading material just wasn't acceptable.  At that time, the main strip of Bethany consisted of just a few stores, certainly no independent book stores.  But the Five and Dime had a display of Nancy Drew Mysteries.  Some I'd read, but a few I hadn't.  My father purchased the ones I had not yet read.

Those lasted another 24 hours, and then we were back to square one.  At this point, he started inquiring about libraries, and we were directed to a little mobile library, literally a trailer, serving the summer residents of Bethany Beach.  They made it very clear that they didn't allow vacationers without permanent summer addresses to borrow books.  The risk of loss, keeping track, etc.  I don't remember if my father wore them down with an argument, or just left some cash as collateral, but I do remember I walked out of there with a bunch of books.

Bethany Beach, 1970...well before my
Nancy Drew Mystery days

Good memories.  Even as adults, we traded titles we enjoyed, and he would pass along all the new releases he'd picked up at the bookstore.  I know every time I find a book that pulls me in, and takes me on a fabulous journey, away from the stress of everyday life, I'll think of him, and thank him silently for fostering my love for stories.

DIVINE FALL is up for the Red Carpet Award! #YA #angels #romance

Over the summer, DIVINE FALL received a fabulous 4.5 star review from BTS eMag, calling it a "delicious YA filled with love, rich in history, suspense, and enough twists to keep the reader turning the pages".  The reviewer also said it was perfect for fans of The Mortal Instruments series, which had me grinning ear to ear.

Books the receive high reviews in their magazine automatically get nominated for their Red Carpet Book Awards, which is very exciting!  I'll admit, with the voting period over our crazy Thanksgiving travels, I'm way behind on asking people to vote.  But I'd still love to get a few before the voting closes on December 8th.

So if you have time for one click -- no sign in, no registration -- I'd appreciate it!  The voting link is HERE, and Divine Fall is a little less than halfway down.  Thank you!  And if you want to give it a read, it's currently only 99 cents - less than a cup of coffee for hours of entertainment involving forbidden first love and supernatural secrets.  Find it on Kindle here and the blurb and other retailers here.

DIVINE FALL made the "Perfect #Books for Autumn" List! #amreading #Kindle #romance

Revenge, Romance, &
a Rogue Fallen Angel...

The publishing industry is not an easy one...it should come with a warning label.  And lately, I've had to deal with some of the toughest choices in my career.  I'm a big ball of stress, and it's not fun.  But then something happened to brighten my week - one of my readers sent me a link on Facebook.  "Divine Fall is on the list!" it said.

What list? I wondered as my stomach flipped.  But the title read "14 Perfect Books to Get You in the Mood for Autumn" and the site was the very prestigious BookBub...so I figured it couldn't be a bad thing.  And it wasn't.  In fact, it was so unbelievable, I found myself stunned.  Because this list, compiled by the very respectable Bookbub site, includes novels penned by Nora Roberts, Debbie Macomber, Sarah Addison Allen, Lisa Kleypas, Elizabeth Lowell...and Diane Setterfield, author of one of my all-time spooky favorites, The Thirteenth Tale.  The list goes on, with New York Times Bestsellers, USA Today Bestsellers, award winners, and books with cover quotes from Stephen King.  And then there's my YA Paranormal Romance, DIVINE FALL, sitting right in the middle.  It's no major bestseller, for sure...but it's had some highlights: one of five finalists for 2015 RomCon Reader's Crown, a reviewer pick for BTS Review's 2015 Red Carpet Award, a semi-finalist in The Kindle Book Review's 2015 Best Kindle Book Awards.

At the moment, it's up for the Reader's Choice Award in Young Adult Romance at The Romance Reviews.  With everything that's happened this month, I haven't had as much time as I'd like to ask readers for votes.  But it's easy to sign in via Facebook and click the Vote Now link once you're in!  I truly appreciate each and every vote.  Even if I don't win, I'm going to sit back and enjoy the mystery of having my book on a Bookbub list with amazing authors I could only dream of meeting someday.

And if you haven't read it yet, the Halloween season is the perfect time for some supernatural secrets mixed with forbidden first love.  The best part is the price - 99c on Kindle and Nook!  So treat yourself to a "perfect autumn read" and send me your thoughts for other great fall reads...because losing myself in a page-turning read is the best stress reducer I can think of!

#Kindle #Book Awards SemiFinals~ DIVINE FALL made the cut! #YA #angels #horses

Last week I received an email from The Kindle Book Reviews with a link announcing the first round of books to move on - the Semi-Finalists.  Only 20 books per category were chosen, so that's fairly stiff competition.  But my ghost story/romance GULL HARBOR made it last year to the Semi-Finals, in the very crowded "Romance" category, so I held my breath and clicked.

DIVINE FALL was there!  This is a YA book, so regardless of the romantic and paranormal elements, it fits into the "Young Adult" category in this contest - another large category with all sorts of sub-genres.

I've really struggled with this book in a few ways, so I was over the moon.  My first two books are steamy romances mixed with suspenseful ghost mysteries, but after writing SILVER LAKE and GULL HARBOR, I felt like doing something a bit different.  I had an idea for a YA novel involving the last Nephilim, the half-angels, half-humans from the Book of Genesis.  And the main character, 16-year-old Jamie, was going to tell the story through deep first person point-of-view. She was also going to love riding horses and spend all her time at the barn--a nod to my own childhood passions.

By the time I finished this manuscript, though, the Paranormal Romance market was absolutely saturated.  Young Adult books involving angels in particular.  Publishers just weren't looking to acquire anything in this glutted genre, and my current publisher did not have a Young Adult line.

But my fans were waiting for my latest release, and it was ready to go...so I decided to use all the knowledge I've gathered in the years I've been in the writing business and publish this one on my own.  Yes, it was scary to not have the backing of a publisher.  Not to mention, all the marketing and promotion would be solely on me.  But there are some perks of publishing independently, and designing your own cover art is one of them.  I had so much fun designing Divine Fall's cover with the artists I chose!

My regular readers were certainly ready to take the plunge into YA with me, but in terms of marketing, I'm not as adept at connecting with a younger readership.  So it's been stressful trying to figure that part out.

Given these struggles, the fact that Divine Fall made the first cut in the Kindle Awards for YA really boosts my spirits!  I'm keeping my fingers crossed we'll move onto the Finals.  I'm also encouraged by the fact that Divine Fall was one of only five books to make the Finals in the YA RomCon Reader's Crown Award, and that this book is also currently up for the Red Carpet Awards at BTS Book Reviews--a fantastic review in their magazine secured Divine Fall an entry!

Since I control the price on this one, I've put it at 99 cents lately to make it virtually risk-free to try!  If you like romance, first love, supernatural secrets, angels, horses, and/or YA books, download it today for your next summer read!  Links are right below in blue.  And if you like it, tell a friend or two!  Happy reading :)

Kindle

Nook

iPad