Magnificent Vaile Mansion

Last month, Captain Cavedweller and I took a trip to Kansas City for both work and fun.

One day, we drove to Independence, Missouri, and had a delightful time exploring the glorious Vaile Mansion.

The house is amazing from the outside. It was built for Colonel Harvey Merrick Vaile and his wife, Sophia.

The three-story Gothic-like structure is constructed of hand-pressed red brick, trimmed with white limestone and tall, narrow windows.  Construction for the house began in 1871, with the house completed in 1881 at a cost of $150,000. 

Colonel Vaile  built his wealth by investing in several business ventures, primarily interests in the construction of the Erie Canal. He was also part-owner of Star Mail routes. He was a prominent figure in Independence social and business circles.

It was reported by the  Kansas City Times  to be “the most princely house and the most comfortable home in the entire west,”  in an article in 1882. The mansion quickly became a showplace in the area and was a place many notables of the day visited. 

 

The house was decked to the nines for the holidays when we were there, which delighted me to no end.

The mansion is reported to be one of the best examples of Second Empire style architecture in the United States. The house includes nine marble fireplaces.  

The 31 room mansion also includes a fabulous music room, spectacular painted ceilings, flushing toilets, and a  built-in 6,000 gallon water tank. 

The painted ceilings were different in each room, and all works of art.

I was fascinated with the light globes in several of the rooms because each globe was slightly different. Some had scenes, others had florals and vines, but they were all lovely.

Colonel Vaile was involved in the Star Route scandal not long after moving into the house. He faced trials in 1882 and 1883. Although he was found not guilty, he had to spend more than $100,000 in trial expenses. In February 1883, while he was in Washington D.C., his wife, who had been diagnosed with stomach cancer, passed.

Although she only had a few years in the beautiful home, her touches are seen throughout the mansion. Vaile remained at the house until his death in 1894, although he never remarried.

The house changed hands many times over the following decades, becoming a sanatorium and then a nursing home. When the threat of demolition loomed, the property was acquired by the City of Independence and underwent a long-term restoration. The house is now a museum operated by the Vaile Victorian Society, a non-profit organization established in 1983 by local residents.

I’m so glad we had the opportunity to see this glorious house, attired in her finest holiday splendor.

If you enjoy stories about amazing homes, I hope you’ll check out A Christmas Dream. The house is among the many unforgettable characters in this sweet story.

He came to build the house of his dreams, but found a home for his heart.

After an extensive search for the ideal location to build a house he’s spent years designing, Brant Hudson knows he’s found the perfect site the moment he sets foot on the land near Silver Bluff, Oregon. However, frustrating delays leave him laboring alongside the very crew he hired to finish the house in time for Christmas. His work leads the woman who catches his eye to believe he’s a carpenter rather than the owner of the grand manor.

Holland Drake grew up on a farm, but she aspires to secure a position as a housemaid at Hudson House. While delivering lunch to her brother at the worksite, the door opens to a job when Holland encounters a strikingly handsome carpenter whose charm captivates her. Soon, Holland discovers the enchanting man is none other than the owner of the house and her new employer.

As the holiday season arrives amid a flurry of excitement and possibilities, Holland and Brant face choices that could change their lives forever. Will fear hold them back from stepping into the future together, or will their Christmas dreams of love come true?

A Christmas Dream is the first book in the Hudson House Holiday series of wholesome, heartwarming Christmas romances full of the joy of the season.

Have you ever visited a beautiful Victorian home, or a place you’d consider a dream home?

Or maybe you live in your dream home? What do you like best about it?

To stay up on our latest releases and have some fun, too, join our Facebook Reader Group HERE!

Toward the Dawn is OUT!–AND A GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!

 

 A WESTERN LIGHT SERIES–BOOK #2 RELEASED YESTERDAY!

Toward the Dawn

Despite trials that threaten their path forward, hope dawns for a future filled with love.

Kat Wadsworth and Sebastian Jones never imagined their lives would entwine so closely. Forced to flee on a wagon train from a vengeful uncle and an unknown gunman, they live in a hidden canyon with the family that rescued them. But as the days turn into months, they each have separate reasons for wanting to move back to society, and the best way to the independence they desperately crave might be through a marriage of convenience.

However, settling into their homestead in Cheyenne, Wyoming, reveals a different reality for Kat. Her new husband becomes consumed by his inventions, leaving her feeling lonely and isolated. And just when they think they’ve left the danger behind, a mysterious attacker lurks in the shadows, threatening the new life they’ve built. Together, they must confront the perils from their pasts to forge a future with hope and the prospect of love.

I begin Book #2 on a somewhat light note than Chasing the Horizon…Book #1.
In book one we’re escaping from an insane asylum. In book #2 we’re punching a snow drift.
Much lighter.
The whole crowd ran to a hidden canyon to protect Ginny from her ruthless, cruel husband.
Two of them, also scared and running didn’t really get just how isolated they were going to be…..for the rest of their life.
They’re both going MAD…a word that is NOT tossed around casually when you’re an escapee from an asylum.
The bottle neck canyon entrance just will NOT melt open. And when it does, how do a single man and woman ride off together? Is it as improper as all get out.
As they discuss marriage they begin to realize how completely they don’t know each other. Both are in the habit of being secretive. His because thieves are after his inventions. Her because she escaped from the same asylum as Ginny. He also never knew she was a widow. He also never knew her real name.
The one thing they do know is, marriage is in their future if they want out…an they do…then they turn Toward the Dawn…first hoping they can live quietly somewhere and, when that doesn’t work, they know they’re going to have to face their troubles. Face danger. Face their past if they want to have a future.
Toward the Dawn…in bookstore NOW!
Book #3 Into the Sunset coming in October.
Leave a comment to get your name in the drawing for a signed copy of Toward the Dawn

A New Release is Coming–Chasing the Horizon

 

Chasing the Horizon

Available for pre-order now

Amazon

Baker Book House

Coming in February–Read on to get your name in a drawing for a signed copy of Chasing the Horizon

“Hi, my mother is an escapee from an insane asylum and my father will slap her right back in there, and me with her, if he catches us.

If you think I’ve been secretive, that’s why.

Lied about my name. My relationship to Mother. My destination. Everything really.”

It makes it hard to fall in love……….and at the same time……….stay free.

Her only chance at freedom waits across the horizon.

Upon uncovering her tyrannical father’s malevolent plot to commit her to an asylum, Beth Rutledge fabricates a plan of her own. She will rescue her mother, who had already been sent to the asylum, and escape together on a wagon train heading west. Posing as sisters, Beth and her mother travel with the pioneers in hopes of making it to Idaho before the others start asking too many questions.

Wagon-train scout Jake Holt senses that the mysterious women in his caravan are running from something. When rumors begin to spread of Pinkerton agents searching relentlessly for wanted criminals who match the description of those on his wagon train, including Beth, she begins to open up to him, and he learns something more sinister is at hand. Can they risk trusting each other with their lives–and their hearts–when danger threatens their every step?

This is book #1

A Western Light

All releasing this year.

Toward the Dawn coming in June

Into the Sunset coming in October (not yet available for preorder, but soon!–and the cover is not yet official so it could change…but it probably won’t)

Do you like wagon train books? This is the first one I’ve ever written. I’d’ve said I know allllllllllllll about wagon trains until I started writing…and then the research began. Did you play Oregon Trail when you were a kid? I did. I kept dying of dysentery.

To get your name in a drawing for a signed copy of Chasing the Horizon…Leave a comment about Wagon Trains.

 

Romancing Mark Twain and a Give Away!

The Fillies welcome back Miss E.E. Burke to talk about her big Laramie award and other interesting things.

* * * * * 

On Valentine’s Day in 2022, E.E. was featured by the Mark Twain House & Museum in the author spotlight, Romancing Mark Twain. Since then, E.E.’s novel Tom Sawyer Returns won the Laramie Grand Prize for Americana Fiction in the 2021 Chanticleer International Book Awards. This year, the outstanding historical novel has reached the finals for 2022 contests in Romance and Mystery.

Here are excerpts from the interview about her award-winning novel.

Q: Everyone has a story of how they were introduced to Mark Twain. What is yours and why do you adore these characters so much?

E.E. – I read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn when I was in grade school and high school. (Didn’t we all?) The stories about Tom and Huck’s adventures resonated with me. I didn’t grow up in Missouri, but as I’m thinking back, I can see how the rural area in Florida where I was raised had similarities in its cultural background. The boys reminded me of other boys I knew, and of my “tomboy” self. They became woven into the fabric of my childhood like old friends. Years later, I longed to know what happened to them when they grew up. The author didn’t tell us, although he left a great deal of written literature that provided helpful guidance and cultural perspective. I had to envision the possibilities.


Q: How did you go about imagining these fictional children into fictional adults?

E.E. – It was extremely important to me to honor Twain’s characters as he had created them. Of course, he created them as children. I wanted them to retain their core personalities, the unique aspects of their character that made them so endearing, yet they had to grow up. They had to become men (and women) who lived their own history, with all the painful and beautiful experiences that go along with it, as well as the complications and complexities that make adult life so challenging.

In the original adventures, Becky is a product of her upbringing: a spoiled only child of an influential judge, pampered, the center of attention, the Victorian ideal of girlhood.

I asked myself—what attracted her to Tom in the first place? He’s not exactly the type to be voted as “most likely to succeed.” Her parents wouldn’t have approved of him as a suitor. Becky flouts social strictures when she takes up with the schoolyard scoundrel. This gave me the kernel of an idea. If Becky had to live through the hellish experience of the Civil War in Missouri, if she lost everything, stood to lose even her beloved father, and was forced to depend on herself, she would either collapse or become a stronger person. I voted for her strength.

Tom matures into a surprisingly complex character. He’s a wartime spy who has spent years risking his life for the sake of honor, loyalty, and, frankly, his obsession with being a hero. He is duty-bound and responsible, but deep inside he is also the eternal, willful boy. One who craves attention and affection, much like his creator, Mark Twain (Sam Clemens). Livy (Sam’s wife), had a nickname for him. Youth.

Q: I found the clever ways you entwined elements of the original stories really interesting. How did you come up with all the additional facts about the characters and story?

E.E. – Twain’s original stories essentially served as backstories for the adult characters in my books. Where he didn’t expound (i.e., secondary characters, family relationships, historical events) I came up with what I thought would be a feasible history. I used a variety of sources for this: Mark Twain’s autobiography, historical information, and my imagination.

I wondered, “what if” Twain’s creations were actual people who could be placed in history? I put them in the same general timeframe as the man, Sam Clemens, because he was writing about these characters as contemporaries. His fictionalized settings were based on real places and real events. All this helped me flesh out Twain’s future world.

While these books are rooted in Twain’s original novels, readers can still enjoy them even if they haven’t read the originals or don’t recall them. I just think you might enjoy these novels even more if you revisit Twain’s adventures.

Missouri, 1864
The country is at war, Missouri languishes under martial law, and a once-peaceful river town throngs with soldiers, spies, and sedition.


Caught in the middle is Becky Thatcher. Once a pampered only child, she has lost nearly everything, including her faith in love. When her father is jailed for treason and their very survival depends on her, the last person she wants to rely on is her faithless first beau, Tom Sawyer, who shows up unconscious at her doorstep after having gone missing for years.


Tom has no problem remembering the mistakes he made concerning Becky, but is she the reason he returned home? Upon awakening without crucial memories, the undercover spy can’t recall his mission and dares not to confide in anyone—not even his childhood sweetheart.
As an assassin closes in and a deadly scheme unfolds, Tom and Becky must work together to solve a mystery before their enemy separates them. Forever.

Inspired by America’s favorite storyteller, bestselling author E.E. Burke brings her vision to two unique historical novels with a colorful cast of characters, both familiar and new, in Tom Sawyer Returns and Taming Huck Finn.

You can purchase Tom Sawyer Returns at the following retailers: books2read.com/NewAdventure1



Today E.E. is giving away a copy of Tom Sawyer Returns to one lucky commenter who answers her question: Have you read Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer? If so, what kind of person did you think Tom would grow up to be?



E.E. Burke is a bestselling author whose lush novels set in the American West transport readers to a thrilling era filled with breathtaking adventure, taut suspense, and undeniable romance. Her books have won critical acclaim in numerous national and regional contests, including the Chanticleer International Book Awards, Readers’ Choice, and Kindle Best Book. Over the years, she’s been a disc jockey, a journalist, and an advertising executive, before finally getting around to living the dream–writing stories readers can get lost in.

Find out more about E.E. and her books or sign up for her exclusive historical newsletter, On the Journey, at her website: http://www.eeburke.com.

Guest Blogger Regina Jennings – The Coney Island of the Tri-State District

The Coney Island of the Tri-State District

By Regina Jennings

Whether you get a big bonus at work or flat out win the lottery, what do you start planning immediately? For most people, they make plans for a vacation to one of those fancy theme parks.

The citizens of Joplin, Missouri, were no different.

The little mining town of Joplin had, after a fashion, won the lottery. Situated on the nation’s richest lead and zinc fields, what had been only a small camp site and scattered farms after the Civil War was producing seventy-five percent of America’s zinc by 1895. For every railroad car of ore shipped out of Jasper County, bags of money were rolling back in. But instead of visiting a theme park, Joplin decide to build their own.

Schifferdecker Park Promenade

 

In the 1890s, successful brewer Charles Schifferdecker purchased a dairy farm on the outskirts of Joplin. Seeing an opportunity with his new land acquisition, he leased ten acres to some businessmen for the formation of an amusement park. Eventually Schifferdecker transferred more land to the partnership until Schifferdecker Park had expanded to 160 acres and became the premier attraction in the area.

Over 12,000 people attended the Park’s grand opening on June 10, 1909, making it the largest gathering ever in the Tri-State District. On that day, visitors could tour the extensive gardens, slide or dive into the pool, boat across the lagoon, roller skate at the rink, play tennis, attend concerts and animal exhibitions, and enjoy Schifferdecker’s brew at the biergarten in a replica German village.

And just twenty years after the invention of the roller coaster, upstart Joplin had three of them. In my book Engaging Deception, Olive and Maxfield have a thrilling encounter on the Dazy Dazer.

I thought it better to put them on the Dazy Dazer than the Figure 8, which was demolished in 1916 for being “a menace to safety.” Roller coasters, animal shows and roller skating, but what Schifferdecker Park became famous for was its amazing light display.

Schifferdecker Park became known as the Electric Park because of the 40,000 incandescent bulbs installed on its structures. At a time when electricity was used sparingly and cautiously, Joplin had a Tower of Light that was 125 feet high and covered in 10,000 light bulbs. It was a marvelous feat of engineering and a source of pride for everyone in the region.

Tower of Lights

While Schifferdecker and Joplin had the riches to build the magnificent Electric Park, it did not have the population to sustain it. With the vast grounds, attractions and electricity usage, the Park was horribly expensive to maintain. Schifferdecker’s Electric Park was closed in 1913 and Schifferdecker donated 40 acres of the property to the City of Joplin with the understanding that it would always be used as a public park. Although the Tower of Lights is long gone, people still gather on Schifferdecker’s land for fun and relaxation.

Speaking of fun and relaxation, you could use a break! Take a literary trip to turn-of-the-century Joplin with Engaging Deception. It releases December 13 and is available for pre-order now. Not only that, but the first two books in the series (Courting Misfortune and Proposing Mischief) are on ebook sale for the month of November. Only 99 cents and $2.99 for them!

****Giveaway****

To win a paperback copy of Engaging Deception, leave a comment below letting me know which theme park is your favorite! The fillies will pick a winner and you’ll get a copy in the mail after the release date. (US residents only, please.)

Connect with Regina at:

http://www.reginajennings.com

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