Harmony Hall: The House that Sparked a Story
A couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure of visiting my dream home for the first time in thirty-five years. Not the place where I want to live when I retire, but the home that inspired my novel, Shenandoah’s Daughter. I first toured the house back in the mid-eighties when my husband and I were newly married, and I fell in love with the dwelling as I walked the wide plank floors, admired the limestone exterior, and heard stories of a bullet embedded in the parlor wall and of a brother and sister who’d lived there on their own. The seeds burrowed their way into my imagination, where they lay dormant for years before germinating into the story of my heart.
In my story world, this is Jenny Callahan’s house, built by her great-grandparents, and she’s determined to hold onto at all costs in the midst of the Civil War.
In the real world, George and Mary (Hite) Bowman, early settlers in the Shenandoah Valley, built this mini-fortress named Fort Bowman in 1771. The house was more commonly known as Harmony Hall, in honor of George’s five sons who ensured that disharmony reigned more often than not. Sitting on a rise, this stronghold with its 18+ inch thick stone walls, acted as a refugee for neighboring farm families. Its forerunner, a wooden Fort Bowman, built in the early 1750’s, provided protection during the turbulent days of the French and Indian War.
When I agreed to tour Harmony Hall in the mid 1980’s, I was only looking for a place to rent, and I was intrigued about the possibility of visiting a historical home not usually open to the public. I never dreamed that it would spark in me a passionate interest in the Civil War and inspire the story that I’d pour my time, energy, and heart into.
The stone fortress standing alone against the elements and time with its face toward the hard knob of Massanutten Mountain captured my imagination. I had to know its secrets. Even if I invented them on my own.
New (re)discoveries from my recent tour:
I hadn’t realized that the house was considered to be a “fort.”
Cedar Creek runs through the property before it heads northeast to the site of the 1864 battle that settled the fate of the Shenandoah Valley firmly in Yankee hands.
The doors didn’t have knobs (I had to edit out those moments of characters turning the knob, etc.). Instead, the locking system utilized iron handles and latches. Several of the doors still have these! (Small detail, but to me, it infuses the house and my story with an added touch of reality.)
Decades ago, these stone walls ignited my imagination, and they still hold a dear place in my heart.
Originally from Tennessee and the Shenandoah Valley, Sherry Shindelar loves to take her readers into the past. She is an avid student of the Civil War and the Old West. Her novel, Shenandoah’s Daughter, is set in the Shenandoah Valley. When she is not busy writing, Sherry is an English professor working to pass on her love of writing. Sherry won the 2020 ACFW First Impressions Award for Historical Romance, and she was a semi-finalist in the 2021 ACFW Genesis Contest and a finalist in RWA’s 2021 Maggie Contest and in the 2022 Crown Contest. She currently resides in Minnesota with her husband and has recently completed a western novel set in 1860 Texas. Keep up with her on her website.