Research – Sully Plantation
Southern California was my home when I started writing my Shadowcreek Chronicles series. It didn’t take long to realize if I was going to set my story and write about places on the opposite side of the country, I needed to go there for myself. My Momma traveled with me to Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Those road trips became the knowledge base of details I later wove into my pages.
Early on, I dreamed of what I thought Shadowcreek might look like. Imagine my surprise when I found there was an actual place that, since 1794, has stood on the outskirts of Chantilly, Virginia. It had all the outbuildings, kitchen, dairy, covered well, the shadowed creek, the family’s cemetery, and proximity to the turnpike that made it seem the perfect place to pattern my fictional Hastings family’s estate after.
On the return from General J.E.B. Stuart’s Christmas Raid of 1862, the Confederate cavalry stopped to rest at Sully, feed and water their mounts, and partake of breakfast before continuing on their way back to the Army of Northern Virginia’s winter encampment.
Sully makes an appearance as itself in “Matter of Trust.” The barn where Salina and Jeremy are reunited has not been reconstructed, but I’ve seen the estate map and know where the barn would have been on the property, so I was able to write the scene as the landscape would have been at the time.
Writing fiction gives me some latitude, but as far as the facts are concerned, I do my best to make them as accurate as possible. I wanted my stories to be entertaining and a learning experience.
After many visits to Sully over the years, I finally got to have a book signing at the historical site. In a way, it felt like a homecoming.
