Just returned this afternoon from a trip to the Old Slave House where IHPA officials, including Historic Sites Division Manager Paula Cross, had arranged a tour for a Federal Highway Administration official whose name I admit I didn't catch.
Gallatin County tourism officials were also present. Last year they were successful in securing the designation of an official spur off of the Ohio River National Scenic Byway along Route 13 to come down Route 1 to the house.
That's the first transportation tie-in. The second is a major grant application IHPA submitted last year for a transportation enhancement grant for the Old Slave House, or the Crenshaw House as they continue to call it.
The highway official was about 120 pages into my book and asked good questions during the tour.
Cross also noted that principals from Ratio Architects had met with officials from the Illinois Capital Development Board to negotiate their contract for the historic structure report.
Due to the limited funding - $150,000 - they will apparently be doing just the report, no archeaological work and most likely no repair work.
As to book updates, I'm am for all practical purposes out of the paperback edition of "Slaves, Salt, Sex & Mr. Crenshaw". All I have left are about 15 returns sent back to me from the distributor. I am only selling these to individuals or bookstores when they have seen the books first as these are not pristine copies, and a few are damaged.
The paperback was the 2004 edition. I still have plenty of copies of the 2005 expanded and revised hardcover edition.
I won't print a new paperback edition until I've almost sold out of the hardcover one. At that point it will likely be an abridged edition without some of the back matter from the hardcover. It will though include any correction or new research finding that's been found since the hardcovers came out.
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2 comments:
I grew up in Southern Illinois and always felt that this was possibly the most illustrative example of America in the pre civil war days. It also showed how the civil war was not just about slavery. Old Abe stayed there during his campaign for Harrison. I have never understood why anyone in Illinois would fail to see the importance of this in the Lincoln trail. This house looks worse than I have ever seen it and I have looked at it my entire life. This is since the state took it over and it is a crime. I suspect that someday the house will go up in smoke so that Illinois can bury the past. We need this house, but I am getting older and have little power to change this. I hope someone gets as upset about the sinful waste of funds in Illinois and robbing our youth, black and white of this unique educational opportunity. It almost makes me ashamed to be a citizen of Illinois and since one of my best friends is a archaeologist it would be nice if they would consider some people with some respect, not just tourist would be allowed up there to look it over and report on it to other educational institutions to see if some serious study can be done. This is not a tourist attraction, it is a key to understanding our past and present. Worse, it appears I am the only one commenting on it. Steven nabazas
does anyone knows when they are opening the old slave house i live in saline co. and i've been wanting to see it open but never heard anything else but the state buying it let me know if theirs any findings my email is goldengirl62917@yahoo.com
thanks christina
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