Crenshaw Slave House

LEGEND AND LORE OF THE CRENSHAW SLAVE HOUSE

WILL BE TOPIC AT NEXT HISTORICAL SOCIETY MEETING

Todd Carr, a Southern Illinois historian and author, will be the featured speaker at the

next meeting of the Lawrence County Historical Society on Monday, August 28, 2023, 7:00

p.m., at the History Center in Lawrenceville.

Carr will speak on the history, legend, and lore of the infamous “Crenshaw Mansion” in

Gallatin County. Described as one of the “Most Haunted Houses in America” the site was home

to John Hart Crenshaw, a wealthy land owner who engaged in the illegal slave trade to provide

labor for his nearby salt works. The third floor of the mansion was purportedly used as a “slave Jail”

for kidnapped free blacks and captured runaway slaves from the South.

The meeting is free and open to the general public.