Prospect Place

George Willison Adams built Prospect Place, also known as Trinway Mansion, in 1856 in the small town of Trinway, north of Dresden in Muskingum County, Ohio.

Adams had left Fauquier County, Virginia, after his abolitionist views made him quite unpopular. Upon completion of the Trinway Mansion, Adams made his home a major stop on the Underground Railroad. During the decade before the Civil War, the basement of the house was regularly used to house runaway slaves on their journeys to Canada. They would be given food, lamps, blankets and whatever they needed for their trip further north along the Underground Railroad. Prospect Place was one of the largest stations on the Underground Railroad in the state of Ohio. Bounty hunters from the south regularly roamed the Ohio countryside looking for runaway slaves, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made this legal, even though Ohio was a free state. It was a very risky business to be involved in liberating these people.

A family descendant, George Jeffrey Adams, now owns Prospect Place and recently completed some major restorations. It is now open as a combination Bed and Breakfast (with restaurant) and a special Underground Railroad Museum is located in the basement that offers guided tours.

Prospect Place, or Trinway Mansion is rumored to be haunted by several spirits. The first is a story of the little girl, Constance Cox, who reportedly fell from the front portico balcony, has existed in the Dresden area for more than a century. The young girl was afflicted with a fever and wandered onto the balcony one cold night in the winter. She lost her footing and fell over the low railing to the hard sandstone steps below. Historical research shows that Anna and William Cox adopted a young girl named Constance. Constance did in fact die at a young age and this fits the profile of the child in this story.

The story continues that the girl's body was not buried immediately as the frozen ground would not allow for the digging of a grave. The body was placed on ice in the basement in a pit originally designed as a refrigeration system for the home. Here the child remained until the spring thaw when she could be given a proper burial. The mother, Anna, grieved for her lost child and visited the body daily until the burial.

Today the ghost of Constance can sometimes be seen on the second floor near the door to what was once the portico balcony. Other observations of the little girl have been made in the basement, the ballroom and the Upstairs Parlor, now guest bedroom, which was the room in which she was kept when ill. Her image has also been seen standing near the fireplace mantle in that room.

Anna Adams was the eldest daughter of G. W. Adams. She and her husband, William Cox, Jr., inherited the mansion when her father died in 1879. For many years the couple lived a happy and high lifestyle within the mansion. William was known for having lavish balls and parties and for spending lots of money. As soon as the money ran out, William disappeared.

One morning in the late 1890's William boarded a train for Columbus instead of taking care of some personal business in Zanesville, as he had told Anna. He arrived at a hotel in Columbus and checked into a room with a strange man. In the morning the two men checked out and William was never seen again. Anna was left heartbroken and alone with her surviving child, George Cox, in the huge mansion.

In time many family heirlooms and even the copper roof to the house was sold to help Anna survive. She died at Prospect Place due to complications from a fall on the ice at the neighboring River Dale mansion. She died lonely and broken, never knowing the fate of her missing husband.

Many say that Anna still wanders the halls of the estate searching for the life and husband she once loved. Other have reported seeing William Cox walking the halls of the mansion perhaps on a quest to make amends with Anna.

There is the story of the refugee in the basement. Many former slaves escaping by means of the Underground Railroad once stayed in the mansion basement. One story is about a woman who suffered a head wound in her attempt to escape from the south. She was in bad shape when she arrived at Prospect Place and although the staff of the mansion tried everything to save this lady she eventually died from the injury.

Today many have seen or heard this woman in the basement. She is a watchful guardian spirit of the mansion due to the care and attention she received before her death.

There is also another story that tells of the hanging of a slave trapper on the third floor of the barn. It is said that he came to Prospect Place and demanded Adams turn over any slaves hiding on his property. The ranch hands, indebted to Mr. Adams, decided to execute a little vigilante justice on George's behalf. They tracked the bounty hunter back to his camp and abducted him. Returning to the barn they held a trial and convicted the bounty hunter of the high crime of slavery (under God's Law). The bounty hunter was executed by hanging from the third floor through the hayloft opening. The ranch hands then secretly buried the body. Today, it is said that the restless spirit of the bounty hunter roams the barn where he died looking for revenge on the ranch hands who killed him. Some have reported feeling a touch on their arm in the barn, while others have captured an image of a ghostly dark clad man on film.

In 2006, Brian and Gina Boughner, with the NWPAH Paranormal Investigation Group, were in attendance at a Ghost Hunt at Prospect Place. They reported several personal experiences and the buildings and property were beautiful. Prospect Place is rich with history. Keystone Paranormal looks forward to a road trip to Prospect Place in the future.