The Mudlavia Project: The Ditch

The story of Mudlavia begins in the humblest of places; it begins with a ditch.

(The picture above shows a ditch my Grandpa drove me by- he says this is where it all began)

In August of 1884, a young man named Samuel Story leased some farmland, but to his dismay, there was a fast-flowing natural spring on the property that made the conditions more like a swamp than a field.

If you’re a gardener or a farmer of any type, then you know that plants like drainage. Samuel Story’s rented field wasn’t draining, and there was no hope of it ever drying out. Story’s only solution was to dig a ditch across the field.

Now Samuel Story was a Civil War veteran, and he had “the rheumatiz”, or what we call arthritis today.

Nowadays we have all kinds of tools to make digging easier, but the only thing Samuel Story had was a shovel.

I can just picture the sun creeping over the tops of the trees as Samuel stood there, shovel in hand, staring forlornly at his flooded field, joints aching, and dreading the hard work of digging a ditch in the hot August weather.

Little did he know that the ditch he was about to start would not only change his life, but would change the history of Warren County.

Story toiled away, shoveling load after load of thick black mud. As the sun beat down on him, he sipped the cool, sweet spring water. He worked day in, day out; back-breaking work in the August heat, trying desperately to make his field "plantable".

Soon Story realized something. The back-breaking work wasn’t as back-breaking as he thought it would be, in fact, he was feeling pretty good- the best he’d felt in years!

As he pondered what had changed, he thought of the cool spring water he’d been drinking, and the hot mud he’d been standing in for weeks. They’d cured him!



(The picture above shows Samuel Story in his older years. This is from my Grandpa's collection)

If you’ve ever known the agony of your body not working the way it’s supposed to, of extreme pain, then you know to find health, stamina, and energy again is a miracle. To be able to wake up and feel normal is a gift from God, and that’s exactly how Samuel Story felt!

Now if our story ended here, with a humble, hard-working, war veteran finding healing and health, I think that’s an amazing story in itself, but it continues…

Story was so excited about his healing that he told everyone! Soon the word spread, and others who were suffering and desperate for relief came to Samuel Story’s ditch to try the magic mud.

At first they showed up with buckets and bottles to capture the healing mud and water, but soon they were camping out in tents on either side of the ditch.

They did whatever they could to get the mud. They used buckets, barrels, and bottles, and even rolled it up in their clothes. There were so many people camping out on the land and yearning for the magic mud, that William “Uncle Billy” and Matilda Cameron bought the property and constructed a small bathhouse and hotel, and named it Cameron Springs. The buildings were crude, and the people were treated while they sat on stumps and rested their feet in tobacco buckets full of the heated mud.

In 1889, a young entrepreneur named Henry Kramer traveled to Cameron Springs and listened to the stories of the magic mud. The tales sent his bright mind reeling, and thus began the creation of one of the most magnificent mud baths in the United States.

*Giving credit where credit is due- a special thanks to my grandpa, Bill Ringer, for sharing all his Mudlavia information with me, to Matt Akers for sharing copies of his mother’s publications of the Good Ol’ Days with me, to Sara Johnston for sharing her copy of Traces with me, and to Teri Morris for helping me so much with my research over the last several months

Good Ol’ Days, Mudlavia Edition, June/July 1989

Traces, “The Right Water, The Right Mud, and the Right Place”, Winter 1992

*Various sources talk about Samuel Story’s life after Mudlavia was built. In an account written by his great granddaughter in Good Ol’ Days, she says that he continued to live in what would become the town of Kramer. Although he was the discoverer of the famous mud, he never received any riches from it, but lived a humble, honest, god-fearing life. He loved his family and he was a fiddler, often requested to play at various events. Other sources say that Story could often be found telling the story of the ditch and the magic mud on the porches of the Mudlavia Hotel, and one source even claims that he drove the coaches back and forth to the train station from Mudlavia and entertained the guests with his stories. There are some discrepancies in sources about  the tents that were erected and details about Cameron Springs, so the above information could change as I continue my research.

The Mudlavia Project: The Ghostbuster

James and I were at a party and someone asked me what I did for a living. James immediately jumped in and said, "She's a writer." This led to, "Oh, what do you write?" I explained that I was currently working on a historical fiction about Mudlavia.

Another person said, "Wait, isn't that the haunted hotel in the middle of nowhere?"

If I had a dollar for every time I've heard about the "haunted hotel in the middle of nowhere," I would probably be able to pay off my student loans.

Even in the age of the "great and powerful" internet, it's hard to find good and reliable information on Mudlavia, and there's many a tale of ghost sightings and séances associated with it.

The structure of Mudlavia is rotting and falling apart, but the crying shame is that the rich and magnificent history is fading and being lost to a bunch of ghost stories.

Before I write any other posts about Mudlavia, I want to set something straight... I am not writing a ghost story. In fact, I'd like to consider myself a ghost buster.

Here are a few claims on the internet I'd like to bust-

1) One ghost account mentions that there are thirteen trees that line the road that leads to Mudlavia...

Out of curiosity, I parked along the side of the road and walked it, counting each and every one of those big trees. I'd like to inform you that there are twenty-one trees that line the road, and that does not include the ones that are rotted and tipped over. Thank you very much.

2) The ghosts of the people that died in the fire haunt the hotel

All it takes is a little research to bust this one. The Historical Society has primary resources that specifically say that NO ONE died in the Mudlavia fire.

3) It's an old building, so it MUST be haunted!

Just because it's an old building doesn't mean it's haunted. I took pictures from the road (as James said, "How brave of you." But I didn't go onto the property because I hadn't asked the owners for permission yet) on Friday the 13th... If there's ever a good time for ghosts to show up, Friday the 13th would be a good day, wouldn't you say? Anyhow, there was nothing except a slight breeze and warm sunshine.

My goal with my novel is to restore Mudlavia's glory, not brick by brick, but word by word. I hope that instead of seeing rubble or hearing ghosts, that people will be able to imagine the elegance and romance of the era that Mudlavia once thrived in. Mudlavia springs operated at the turn of the century and held the magnificence, beauty and romance that Titanic and The Great Gatsby offer.

I hope someday instead of knowing it as just a haunted hotel in the middle of nowhere, people will know that it had stunning gardens, a striking marble fountain bubbling in the hotel lobby, a wishing well, elaborate farm to table menus, and a Queen Anne-style chapel where worship services, concerts, and weddings took place. It was a place nestled in what people called "Peaceful Valley" and it claimed to restore ones life and soul through it's magic mud and beautiful surroundings.

So let's begin the tale of Mudlavia, of its rich history and beauty...