About This Location
The Kelton House is a stunning Greek Revival mansion built in 1852 by Fernando and Sophia Kelton, passionate abolitionists who operated the home as a station on the Underground Railroad. The Keltons risked their freedom to shelter escaped slaves, including two young sisters from Virginia who arrived in 1864. One sister, Martha Hartway, stayed with the family and eventually married the Kelton family butler. The home remained in the Kelton family until Grace Bird Kelton's death in 1975.
The Ghost Story
Since renovations began, unexplained phenomena have occurred regularly throughout the house. Interior doors open at night when the building is empty, furniture moves on its own, and apparitions in period attire appear and vanish. Oscar Kelton, Fernando's son killed in the Civil War, has been seen in the garden wearing his gray uniform and smoking a cigar. Staff have smelled women's perfume when alone, attributed to the spirit of Grace Kelton. Grace is particularly active, reportedly reorganizing files that staff have arranged, hiding items in locked cabinets, and leaving out cleaning supplies when housework doesn't meet her standards. Guests report being pushed or pulled in upstairs hallways. Each Halloween, Fernando's Victorian funeral is reenacted in the parlor where it originally occurred.
