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Chapter 3: Discovering a Mystery at Wolf Cave and the Cave House

"Wait up, Owen," Addie said in her bossiest big-sister voice. "Stay with us."

Addie finally caught up with him in front of a dark frame building with a stone foundation and latticework walls. Vines covered the walls and wove in and out of the lath like a basket. The building looked mysterious and ancient.

Addie glimpsed a gray shadow like a large dog slinking around the corner. That's strange. Shouldn't dogs be on leashes in town?

Addie and Owen laced their fingers through the lattice and peered into the shadows inside the building. Dank mist trailed over their faces like ghostly fingers. The sound of dripping water filtered out through the cracks in the walls. The dog had disappeared inside the building, but Addie couldn't see it. She shivered and squinted into the darkness. Owen tried to stick his tongue through a crack in the boards, but only scraped it on the rough wood.

"Gram, I think I saw something disappear inside here, like a big dog, a gray one," Addie said. Didn't Gram or Owen see it too?

"I didn't see anything," Gram said, chugging up the hill behind them, looping in and out of the other shoppers. "Come away, it might be a rat. This building covers the opening to a cave system under Abingdon. Come in front of the Cave House, and we'll read the historical marker." Gram pulled Addie and Owen away from the dark building and its shadows. They followed the path to the front of a large white building with carved icicles hanging over the porch. Addie looked behind her several times for the dog.

"Wow, this looks like a gingerbread house," Owen said. "What is it?"

"Watch out, a witch may try to catch you and fatten you up for her dinner." Addie popped her gum with a snap.

"This is the Cave House, and it looks like a gingerbread house because the architectural style is Gothic Revival." Gram pointed to the acorn ends on the icicle trim hanging over the porch.

"Look, here's a sign in the yard." Owen slowly read the sign:

"Is that where we were?" Addie asked. Could that have been a real wolf going into the cave?

"Right," Gram said. "Until 1774, when the settlement became Black's Fort, Abingdon was known as 'Wolf Hills'. Then in 1778, the settlement was given the name of Abingdon."

"Wolves really lived here?" Owen's eyes grew wide with excitement. "Are they still hiding in the cave? Maybe I can find one and tame it."

Addie looked back towards the dark building covering the cave and its shadows.

"Oh, no, honey, the wolves were hunted out long ago," Gram said. "The early explorers found many other animals here, like bears, turkeys, swans, panthers, elk, and buffalo. Most of those were hunted out, too."

"Buffalo lived here in the mountains? Just like the ones in the old westerns?" He galloped on an imaginary pony on the sidewalk, circling a herd of fierce buffalo.

"Those buffalo would have hunted you instead," Addie said. "And, you can't even ride a horse."

"There's a part of the North Fork of the Holston named the 'Buffalo Ford'." Gram grabbed Owen's collar to keep him from galloping into the busy street. "But most of those beasts were gone by the time this area was settled by our ancestors."

"What's that building over there?" Owen pointed to a stucco building across Main Street. "Let's go read the sign."