THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 26, 1994 TAG: 9410250106
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY ALLISON T. WILLIAMS
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Long : 139 lines
Editor's note: In observance of Halloween next Monday, we're offering a sort-of ghost story. Actually, it's a bedtime story. Read on - if you dare.STAFF WRITER
STEVE BOWEN WILL never forget his first overnight stay at his in-laws' house six years ago.
In the middle of the night, he recalls, he woke up to see angry flames devouring the 30-acre soybean field outside his bedroom window.
Bowen, a volunteer fireman, remembers sitting straight up in bed and shaking his wife awake to call the fire department.
Anna Bowen peered sleepily into the darkness. Seeing nothing, she told her husband he was dreaming and drifted back to sleep.
``He was wide awake, and he woke me up,'' Anna said, recalling the nightmarish incident. ``I remember telling him to go back to sleep. I thought he was crazy!''
But maybe Bowen wasn't so crazy.
After all, he had been warned this could happen. If he dared sleep in the Lincoln Bed at The Anchorage, the historic home where Bowen's in-laws, Cornelius and Annie Lee Duff, live, nightmares were almost certain, they said.
The grand, white brick house on Cherry Grove Road was built in 1695. Set back in a field far off the road, the stately home behind white brick pillars has a full basement and three stories.
It's one of the oldest homes in Isle of Wight County.
The Duff family history in the house goes back to 1845, when The Anchorage was purchased by Cornelius Hall, Cornelius Duff's great-grandfather. Duff's family is the fourth generation to live in the old home.
Cornelius Duff said The Anchorage is believed to be the oldest, continually-lived-in house in the United States.
With all the mystique of its age, the house has remained a safe harbor over the years for immediate family members. Visitors, however, apparently could have unexpected adventures in their dreams, especially if they choose to sleep in the Lincoln Bed.
The bed, handcrafted of cherry wood, is so called by the family because it's said to look like the bed Abraham Lincoln slept in at the White House. Duff's great-grandfather brought the bed to The Anchorage shortly after he purchased the house.
The Lincoln Bed's dark head and footboards tower more than six feet toward the ceiling - almost menacingly. Three mattresses are piled atop box springs for sleeping comfort.
And a thick layer of family history blankets the bed, according to Cornelius Duff.
Stories passed down through the family include one that is said to have occurred during the Civil War.
``Great-grandfather Hall happened to be here during the War Between the States, when he looked out the window and saw a bunch of Northern soldiers coming down the driveway,'' Duff said. ``The story goes that, after he grabbed his gun and hid under that bed, he sent my great-grandmother - who had a small pistol hidden in her dress - to answer the door.
``I guess he thought he would shoot them in the foot,'' Duff said, chuckling. ``Anyway, those Yankees were hungry, and she told them they could eat whatever was out there in the smokehouse.''
The smokehouse still stands today. Back then, Duff said, the old smokehouse had a dirt floor.
``The soldiers ate all the meat and left peacefully,'' he said, still laughing. ``But the funniest part of the story is that, while they were eating, they were sitting on top of the family's buried silver!''
Ever since then, the Lincoln Bed seemingly has done strange things to many who seek its comfort to rest for the night.
``If a stranger, or anyone outside the immediate family, sleeps in the bed, they are going to have a dream,'' Duff warned Bowen before he slept there. ``These dreams are different than regular dreams.
``They're not always scary . . . but they are more real,'' he told his new son-in-law. ``When people wake up, they clearly remember every detail of the dream.''
After one night, Bowen was convinced. He was so certain he had seen a fire that the next morning he searched the soybean field unsuccessfully for ashes, charred brush or any other signs of fire.
Bowen said he was determined he was not going to let what was apparently a bad dream scare him from the bed. He vowed to sleep in it a second night.
And his memories of that second night are as searing as the first.
Bowen recalls falling asleep while watching an old swing outside his window as it tapped a tree branch in the gentle night breeze.
The following day, when he awoke, Bowen said he realized there was neither a tree nor a swing outside his window.
``The fire seemed so real,'' he said. ``I can handle that the fire might have been a dream, but I know I was awake when I saw the swing. That's what put me to sleep.''
That was the last time Bowen ever slept in the Lincoln Bed.
``I will sleep on the floor before I sleep on that bed again,'' he declared, laughter masking his seriousness. ``I'm scared to death of that room!''
According to Duff, 11 members of the Duff clan have been born in the Lincoln Bed over the years. And ironically, all 11 of them returned home to die in the bed.
``All these boys and girls grew up and moved away,'' Duff said. ``But every single one of them came back here and died in that bed.''
Anna has vivid memories of the time she spent with her great-grandmother, Virginia ``Gee'' Hall, in the bedroom. As a child, she remembers spending hours playing and learning to read or crochet with her beloved Gee.
``She died when I was in second grade,'' said Anna, 28. ``She was my best friend.''
Bowen said his wife sprinkles her own family's life with occasional recollections of her years with Gee. The couple, who live in Crewe, have three children and make occasional weekend visits to the old home.
Both Anna and her husband say they like to think Gee's spirit is still alive in the Lincoln bedroom.
``I know from what Anna says that Gee spent quality time with her and must have had a lot of influence on her,'' Bowen said. ``When I'm in that room, I feel like I'm trespassing in Gee's territory.
``I think Gee is the Duff family's guardian angel,'' he said.
But, to him, that still doesn't explain that fire in the soybean field.
And how about next Monday? It's Halloween, the day spirits are said to be restless. Will anyone sleep in the Lincoln Bed on Halloween night? If so, pleasant dreams. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Color on the Cover: Cornelius Duff sits in front of the bed that
visitors say prompts nightmares for anyone foolish enough to sleep
in the Lincoln Bed.
Cornelius Duff's family is the fourth generation to live in the
grand, white brick house on Cherry Grove Road that was built in
1695.
Cornelius Hall brought the Lincoln Bed to The Anchorage. Eleven
members of the Duff clan have been born in the Lincoln Bed over the
years. And ironically, all 11 of them returned home to die in the
bed.
The Lincoln Bed's dark head and footboards tower more than six feet
toward the ceiling - almost menacingly. Three mattresses are piled
atop box springs for sleeping comfort.
by CNB