Ashley Riley
Lyman Hall is a tale of how Cole Damon and his delightfully wonderful wife along with their house full of energetic teenaged children navigate through all the pitfalls modern day life has to offer.
With God as their watchful shepherd, they do their best to live their lives in a manner in which they love each other as well as their many friends and neighbors. The Damon Clan clings to each other through the many mishaps their paths inevitably cross.
For whatever reason, Cole and his family are living in what seems to be a continuous whirlwind of life, a wonderful whirlwind.
Their extended family and assortment of friends is a true melting pot of unusual but warm and colorful characters. Each and every one of them is guaranteed to find a warm spot in the reader’s heart.
As exciting as this story is, it is only half the book. There is a completely separate story also contained within these pages. It is the historical saga of Cole’s ancestors. It is about how they survived the aftermath of the civil war way down in Georgia.
These two stories mesh together and tell the tale of how Cole Damon’s family has handed down a very special old trunk through the generations. It is the secrets this old trunk contains that make up the real heart of their story.
Although these two stories are fictional, they portray the factual events of our forefathers.
Come along with Cole and his special family as they live their lives, learn about their ancestors and finally discover what secrets are hidden within the special trunk they discover hidden in their very own attic. Come with them as they learn about a piece of American history that is little known to most Americans.
Ashley Riley resides
in Alabama where he
is continuing to develop
the Cole Damon series.
Damon Hall
Lost Marsh
Foreign Rumors
Now comes the epic
adventure of Cole Damon
and his ancestor.
Lyman Hall
“Daddy, where is Lyman Hall?” my sweet daughter Lisa asked me.
I was a bit preoccupied when she spoke to me asking her question. I was busy looking around the attic sort of reminiscing about all the junk that was stored up here and mentally cataloguing it at the same time. My mind was off in never never land when Lisa asked me her question. I heard her voice in the background, but my mind failed to capture what she was asking.
My daughter Lisa and I had left our home in Arkansas and flew back to my old home in Fredricksburg, Virginia to take care of a little business. A couple of weeks ago, a real estate agent had contacted me about selling my old place. He explained to me about how he had a potential buyer for it and was wondering if I would consider selling it. At first, I really wasn’t interested in selling the place. Shoot, I really didn’t need the money. Besides, it was sort of the old home place. It was my parent’s home. It was the home I grew up in. After both my parents had passed on, they left it to me. Actually, they left it to both my sister and me. But when my mother passed on, I bought my sister’s half of the place and took up residence.
Like I said earlier, when the real estate agent first contacted me I wasn’t interested in selling the place. But, when I learned who the potential buyer was, I warmed up to the idea. Beth, my old best friend Lamar and previous employer’s ex wife wanted to buy it. It seemed that ever since Lamar had closed his store, divorced Beth and ran off to parts unknown, she had been renting a small one bedroom efficiency apartment and now wanted to upgrade a little. I finally figured what the heck and agreed to sell the place to her.
All of this got me to wondering about whatever happened to Lamar. I had not heard from him in a good while. Not long after I got divorced and left Fredricksburg to move out to Arkansas in search of my future, he had sold his store and skipped town with my ex wife. It’s all a long story, but Penny, my ex, had eventually come to her senses and broke off from Lamar. She moved out to Arkansas where I had located so she could be near our kids. Like me, she had even settled down and remarried. She had married Jim Moody, the sheriff of Mumford County. They both seem happy enough. Me, I married the most beautiful, sexy and wonderful woman in the world. My entire world now revolves around Nita. She is something special.
My two teenaged kids Luke and Lacy have also fallen in love with Nita and accept her as their ‘Mama Nita’. Naturally, Nita accepts them likewise. Of course, Nita is now a mama by her own right. Lane, my newest pride and joy came to join us about eighteen months ago. He is now the ruler of all of our lives. He is a double handful of pure joy and has an acute interest in exploring the world to the fullest. It takes my entire household to keep an eye on him.
“Daddy! Are you paying any attention to me at all? Where is Lyman Hall?” my daughter Lisa again asked of me.
Lisa is my newly adopted daughter. She came to be with us only a couple of years ago. This is another long story. But to keep it short, I found her out in Lost Marsh. She was an orphan and had been taken out into the marsh in a series of unfortunate circumstances. I was the one that happened to find her. To tell you the truth, I fell in love with her the moment I first laid eyes on her. The rest of my family fell under her spell right after I did. We didn’t let her get sent back to the orphanage. We made her a part of our family. Now she is as much of a member of our family as any of us.
“Daddy! Did you hear me? Where is Lyman Hall? I mean we call our home Damon Hall, so where is this Lyman Hall?” she again asked me.
