Unraveling Rose Red: Piecing together the puzzle of history and “coincidence” in Rose Red.

Hotel Bremen, like Pinafore Lodge, was a very popular resort destination in the late 19th century and early 20th century. It resided on the cool, calm waters of Lake Chincopee in northern New Jersey.

After the last of the local Indians were driven from the area by white industry - primarily ice, cut in large blocks during winter and shipped around the area for storage in ice houses - the beautiful lake was prime for spring, summer, and fall retreats for middle and upper class travelers from around the country.

While one might suggest the brutality of the way the indigenous Indians were driven away could be enough to curse the entire area, their treatment was not entirely without justification. The local Indians sided with the British in the American War of Independence, as part of a confederation led by the Mohawk. They met their fate at the hands of New Jersey militia, and the rest who remained on the lake for several more decades were derided and finally shoved out of the way by the relentless forward momentum of industry. Between the ice businesses, the numerous iron mine operations on the lake’s surrounding mountains, and the growing tourism, there was very little undisrupted land left for the Indians to live on. Eventually their tribe dwindled and was absorbed into the larger Lenni Lenape nation, and descendants are rare. They are all but extinct. (Continue reading…)

Unraveling Rose Red: Piecing together the puzzle of history and “coincidence” in Rose Red.

Pinafore Lodge was constructed in 1876 on the slope of Mount Pinafore in Pennsylvania—called “Pinafore” for its curious shape and landscape, creating an apron-like appearance when covered in snow. Its builder and original owner, a wealthy Swiss emigrant by the name of Marti Lautens, saw the potential of the location for a mountainside resort—recognized, even before the advent of the popularity of skiing—that Americans would flock to the mountains for their natural beauty, restorative properties and amusement opportunities. He was correct.

For 60 years Pinafore Lodge reigned as the queen of Pennsylvania mountain retreats. Initially the wealthy came for the socializing, enjoying each other’s company in the enormous structure’s two ballrooms, four dining rooms, five recreation rooms (where various events and activities were held, typically gender-disparate in interest, but occasional lectures by famous physicians, writers and artists were attended by members of both sexes), two libraries, a cavernous gentleman’s club, two billiards rooms, a lavish theatre, a large gymnasium, a thoroughly-equipped beauty salon and many other attractions and amenities. After skiing became popular approximately a century ago, the lodge offered a range of slopes to satisfy skiers of all levels, and this brought further influxes of guests. In 1905 a sprawling addition of guest rooms was added to the original lodge complex, and their advertising boasted the Pinafore Lodge as “the largest and grandest resort in the country”. While I have been unable to substantiate those claims, Pinafore Lodge was clearly among the top of the tops for resort destinations at that time. (Continue reading…)

Sophia Dorothea was a slave ship built in the shipyard on the Deptford Strand in Greenwich, England, in the year 1725. Her purpose was simple: abduct African men, women, and children; shackle them by the hands, ankles, and neck in a small berth resembling a coffin, and leave them there to agonize over the torture of sea travel without fresh air or fresh water, possessing no sanitation, and barely enough food. She carried these abducted Africans, soon to be slaves, to the Indies – where those who survived the journey would mostly settle in Jamaica to do the immensely dangerous job of refining sugar cane into sugar.

Sophia Dorothea (named after the wife of the King in reign when the ship was constructed, George I) was a highly successful ship. She was built fast and sturdy enough to withstand the weather one comes to expect of that route of voyage. For three decades she ferried slaves back and forth, then was sold to another owner. He did some minimal repairs and sailed her again for the same task. By the end of the 18th century the Sophia Dorothea continued in service. When docked it reeked of death, human waste, and blood so badly that it would choke passers by.

For each and every Wonder of the World an equal and most nefarious Evil of the World stands opposite. [...] Of these, none is more terrible to behold than the Sophia Dorothea, docked yesterday for a fortnight leave for crew and allowance of provision stocking. One needs not stand at dockside to know the Sophia Dorothea is in port, the smell of her gags the strongest men even at distance. It is such that merely to experience the smell once will ever churn one’s bile at the mere mention of her name. Surely no more potent a charm can be cast in favor of William Wilberforce’s yearly bill to abolish the trade of slaves. (H.L. Hubry, London Evening Post, 1791)

(Continue reading…)

Construction on Kinkarney Castle began in 1483, but due to a number of setbacks–of both mysterious and mundane origins–hindered the completion of the castle until 1546 (coincidentally, I believe, the exact lifespan of famous Christian reformist Martin Luther). By this time the original owners (surname Lyons), who had drafted the plans and funded the initial work, had died. Records of these events are spotty at best, but suggest that the deaths occurred at different times but under strikingly similar and violent circumstances.

Some feel the Lyons brought such ends and the subsequent dark history of the castle upon themselves by insisting the original castle be constructed atop a “faerie mound,” one of the many unexplainable mounds that dot the Irish countryside, said to be inhabited by powerful supernatural spirits. Most believe that to disturb or deface a mound is to ask for trouble–sometimes, serious trouble–it is not unlike the “building atop burial ground” superstition common in America today. (Interestingly enough, there is evidence supporting a theory that Rose Red was built atop an Amerindian burial site.) One can only speculate as to the reason(s) the Lyons insisted that their home be built atop a faerie mound, but historians and folklorists feel that there must have been a desire to harness some kind of supernatural power, on part of one or both. Perhaps it was simply a blatant disregard–or outright disdain–for the beliefs of the local peoples. Whatever prompted them to make this decision, many postulate that it sealed their fates. (Continue reading…)