Prospect Place
Prospect Place (also known as Trinway Mansion) is the 29 room mansion built by abolitionist George Willison Adams just north from Dresden, Ohio, in 1856. It is the home of the non profit G. W. Adams Educational Center, Inc. The mansion is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Ohio Underground Railroad Association's list of Underground Railroad sites. It is located in Trinway, Ohio.
This home featured many new and, for the time, revolutionary innovations. It had indoor plumbing which included a copper tank cistern on the second floor which pressurized water throughout the house. Two coal stoves had copper tanks (under pressure from the cistern system) which heated water and allowed the home to have both hot and cold running water service. Additionally this was the first house of the era in Muskingum County to have indoor flush toilets (water closets).
This is the second house to stand on the same foundation. The original mansion was identical in every way and was allegedly burned to the ground by one George Blackburn, a mason on the project with a notorious reputation who burned the house to make more money for his crew and himself. Court records of a trial no longer exist as the Zanesville, Ohio, courthouse where the trial took place suffered a fire in the early years of the 20th century which destroyed many documents from that era. It is known that Mr. Blackburn did go to prison at the Columbus, Ohio, Penitentiary shortly after the house was destroyed.
The mansion was rebuilt after the fire, however, very modern fire stopping was added to the second house. The interior walls of the current house are solid brick and there is a two inch layer of mortar between the first and second floors of the house to further block fire.
Prospect Place also featured a unique refrigeration system to cool milk, cheese, butter, etc. A pit in the basement was cooled by ice and served as the refrigeration system. A primitive form of "air conditioning" also existed where cool basement air was brought into the living quarters during the summer months via ducts in the outside walls. The primary heating system in the house (until the 20th century) were coal burning fireplaces in nearly all of the 29 rooms.
George Willison Adams
Born in Fauquier County, Virginia, in 1799 to George Beal Adams and his wife Anna Turner, George Willison Adams (or G.W. as he was called) was one of thirteen children. His father was a plantation owner who gave up his land and home in order to move away from the slave holding South. The family migrated to southeastern Ohio in 1808, freed their slaves and settled in Madison Township, Muskingum County near the town of Dresden, Ohio. Like his father, G. W. Adams became a strong abolitionist. He and his brother, Edward, ran an Underground Railroad "station" from their mill at what later became known as Adams Mills, Ohio. After passage of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, G. W. and Edward moved their "station" to George's new home, the Prospect Place Mansion in Trinway, Ohio.
G. W. Adams was once a member of the Ohio General Assembly (source: "History Past & Present of the City of Zanesville and Muskingum County Ohio" published in 1909 and written by J Hope Sutor, available at the John Macintire Public Library and the Pioneer and Historical Society of Muskingum County, Zanesville, Ohio) and worked with John Augustus Roebling to build a bridge across the Muskingum River near Dresden. Later in his life he was the President of the Stubenville and Indiana Railroad and built the Cincinnati and Muskingum Valley Railroad. His land holdings once totalled 14,500 acres with the Prospect Place Mansion in the center of his plantation. At his most prosperous G. W. Adams was worth 14 million dollars in cash and holdings.
G. W. Adams was an important figure in Ohio politics, the Underground Railroad and regional development of the southeastern Ohio area. His importance in these areas was a criterion used to include the Prospect Place Mansion on the National Register of Historic Places.
G. W. Adams died on August 11, 1879 at the age of 79.
Genealogy
The early genealogy of George Willison Adams' family has been thrown into some controversy in recent years. It is known that George Beal Adams was the father of G. W. Adams and that George B. Adams' father was one John Adams of Maryland. Beyond this point opinions differ as to the background of the family. Some researchers believe that the father of John Adams was one Francis Adams who came to America on or about 1642. Others believe that John was the first family member to come to America. If Francis is the original immigrant that leads to a connection with the Massachusetts Adams family from which arose John Adams and John Quincy Adams, Presidents of the United States. If the history of John being the first immigrant is correct then the Adams' line may be descendants of William the Conqueror, King of England.
Underground Railroad Operation
The Underground Railroad operation conducted by G. W. Adams and his brother, Edward, was a huge undertaking. The brothers operated a flouring mill on the Ohio and Erie Canal and owned warehouses, a boat yard and cooper shops in Dresden, Ohio. When men from the Adams company would take flour to New Orleans, Louisiana, they would return with refugees (runaway slaves) beneath the decks of their boats. This implies there was a network of Underground Railroad conductors operating in New Orleans at the time and coordinated by the Adams brothers although no record of this exists (as was common at the time).
Recent History
The mansion passed through the Adams-Cox family to George Cox, a Grandson of G. W. Adams, who owned the property until the 1960s. In 1969 the home was sold to a distant relative of George Cox, Eugene Cox. Eugene operated a gravel mining company, the Cox Gravel Company, which proceeded to mine the remaining 275 acres associated with the estate. Eugenes wife, Peggy Cox, convinced Eugene to purchase the Edward Adams home in Adams Mills, Ohio, as well. The Cox family lived at the Adams Mills home until Eugene's death in the 1990s.
During the period the Cox Gravel Company owned the Prospect Place mansion it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Unfortunately during this time the deterioration of the mansion increased due to a lack of maintenance and vandalism. The interior of the building was all but gutted by theives and vandals. The estate was scheduled to be demolished in 1988. At the eleventh hour local businessman Dave Longaberger purchased the house to prevent it's destruction.
Dave Longaberger immediately installed a new roof on the structure and increased security with the intention of restoring the home as a future Longaberger Company headquarters building. Upon choosing to construct the current headquarters of the Longaberger Basket Company in Newark, Ohio, the mansion project was placed on hold.
Another round of bad luck struck when Dave Longaberger passed away from cancer in the 1990s. The Longaberger Company continued to maintain security on the property until 2001 when the Great-Great Grandson of G. W. Adams, and Longaberger relative, George J. Adams purchased the home with the goal of finishing Dave Longaberger's restroation efforts.
George J. Adams had investors willing to help with the project and make a return on their investment with the creation of a restaurant in the building. Then more bad luck struck as the day following the closure of the deed transfer (September 10, 2001), Al-Qaeda attacked the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon. Within two weeks both investors had backed out and George was left with a building to restore and little money with which to accomplish this goal.
The sheer scope of the project spurred the creation of the G. W. Adams Education Center, Inc., which has owned the building since 2005. As a public charity the non-profit educational center qualifies for grants and donations with which it continues the restoration to this day.
G. W. Adams Educational Center
Currently headquartered at the former home of G. W. Adams, Prospect Place Mansion, the G. W. Adams Educational Center, Inc., was founded by the Great-Great-Grandson of G. W. Adams, George Jeffrey Adams in 2003. The 501 (C)(3) charity center operates as a historical and educational resource center for the southeastern Ohio area. The primary focus of the center is the history of the mansion, restoration of the estate, providing educational activities and seminars which relate to the 19th century Underground Railroad and the modern state of Civil Rights in America.
References
Source: The G. W. Adams Educational Center, Inc.