Tracey Marley

My husband and I recently made a trip to Rutherfordton, NC, in Polk County where the Green River Plantation House is located. Of course, Green River is the house that inspired the house in this series, and although I made the trip to find out details that would make our Heritage House seem more real, I had tons of fun while my imagination ran wild! Below is an article I wrote for the newspapers regarding my stay. Enjoy!

In an effort to finish up the research I’m doing for my latest romance novel, Forgiveness for Yesterday, I made a trip to Polk County where my husband and I stayed at the Green River Plantation House. Having never stayed at a bed and breakfast before, we didn’t know what to expect beyond quaint accommodations and a breakfast made from scratch.

I must say that after spending the weekend with the eccentric Ellen Cantrell and her daughter, Amanda, I was not disappointed. Not only did I dine on the best French toast ever made, by the time I left  found myself wanting to take the plunge and invest in an old house here in my neck of the woods. Despite Ms. Cantrell’s honest words of struggle, there is a passion she possesses for Green River and its history that is rather contagious.

Although the house is more than two hundred years old, I scheduled the trip after stumbling onto its website. As it turns out, the Green River Plantation is very similar to the plantation house in my Christian Fiction novels belonging to The Heritage House Series. Promise for Tomorrow is book one in the series and was published through Tate Publishing of Mustang, Oklahoma in September of 2009.

Promise for Tomorrow is the tale of a young widow who has spent years caught in the cycle of grief and depression and has finally come to the point where she is ready to move on. It is a story of hope and promise and of learning to love and trust again. The characters in book one visit the fictional Heritage House where Chris Lanning, a real-estate developer, falls in love with the plantation and makes plans to renovate the property and convert it into a bed and breakfast.

Forgiveness for Yesterday is book two and is the story I’m currently working on. It tells how Chris goes about the daunting task of renovating a home built in 1823 and how he learns an important lesson on forgiveness during the process. I use the renovation of the Heritage House to mirror changes going on in the main character’s hearts and lives. My interview with Ellen and her experience with the real-life Green River Plantation was so that I could bring life and reality to some of the problems Chris will encounter during that process.

Ellen had lots of information to share, allowing me a private glimpse into the life of a person who turned out to be quite a character herself. From discovering squirrel fur in the well water to the dreadful day her beloved Eugene passed, Green River painted the backdrop for many of her memories. The way she has painstakingly gone through the house preserving everything to the best of her ability, and against all types of odds, testifies to her dedication and love for the property. She gave me the ins and outs of what it was like to run the home as both a museum and bed and breakfast, as well as the responsibilities associated with updating and keeping maintenance on a piece of property that is 9,000 square feet in size.

With each tale she told whether is was voiced with laughter or in sorrow, she had a deep and personal connection with everything and everyone there. To me the Heritage House is fiction, but to Ellen Green River is real. The passion I found her to possess was not imagined, and something I can only hope to capture on paper.

Living in a society that has the mindset we should have the newest and have it now, I fear we will continue to move forward in a world of high-speed internet and texting, never stopping to appreciate those who have a fervor for preserving the treasure of our past. Far too few Ellens grace my generation and the ones behind me.

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Green River and the experience it gave me. I am so excited to channel the southern charm that I discovered during my stay onto the pages of The Heritage House Series, and the enthusiasm and zeal I found in Ellen into the character of Chris Lanning, our imaginary investor. I may even borrow a tale or two from Green River’s history—with Ellen’s blessing of course.

To learn more about Green River Plantation, you can visit: www.green-river.net