Abandoned - Oakridge Row - Story 96

[Abandoned]

This story was originally posted on July 20, 2023


Intro


  This is the 96th story in the Smallville Series.  In the first 95 stories there have been many shortages that have had to be dealt with: shortages of logs, firewood, stone, iron, tools, clothing, grain, fruit, and workers.  One critical shortage had been overlooked: the shortage of available prospective mates.  Many young men left the bigger, more populated towns in the east to seek their fortunes hunting and trapping, mining for gold, or working for the railroad.  Many of them settled in the west where there were then 7 men for every 1 woman.  Churches in the west began writing to churches in the east soliciting for woman to come west; those that did were called mail-order brides.  There were groups of women brought west as described in this story. 

  The clerics at the Mountain Mission (story 2) blamed the lawlessness in the region on too many single young men, too much tequila, and too few wives and families to give the men purpose and stability.  The clerics at the Mission wrote to the church in Monkstown (story 7) asking if there were any wholesome God-fearing young women there looking for husbands.  The cleric in Monkstown found 9 such women and a young couple to escort the women to the Mission in the northwestern section of the world map.  There, the 9 couples would be married and together would form a settlement at the edge of the oak forest across the river from the mission. One of the monks from the Monastery offered to accompany the group, taking along some of the last batch of Holy Books the monks just finished transcribing. One of the Monastery's young housekeepers would go with him.  It was approximately year 70 SVT.







Map seed # 324277396     Valley One River,   Small,   No Snow,   Disasters Off, Small Exodus

The Small Exodus Start is 15 couples, no children, no seed or livestock, no supplies or resources.  My first attempt with this start resulted in starving bannies; reloading earlier saves had same result.  I restarted, added only a few abandoned houses at a time and more hedgerows.  This was not an easy start.

 
Mods activated for this map and load order are:

Map Changing and Starting Mods:   Banished UI Maps, Labor Window, RK Minimized Status, CC Light Rain, climate No Snow, Lush & Green, override Map, Kid Deco Tree Fall, Kid Tree Replacer Deco, Kid Tree Replacer x-Light. Kid New Flora Edit, Multiple Starts (Tikeszar)

Tweak Mods:  Better Fields, Fishing Dock +25%, Hunting, Hunting Season, Increased CC,  1:1 Alternative (Voeille), Rock Respawn, Tiny Smoke

Major or Must Have Mods:    An Empty Square, Nomads (Kid), override Uneducated, Storage Crates, Jinxie Festival Park, Kid Abandoned Places SE, Kid Friendly Pumpkin, Kid Rowhouse Business, Kid Rowhouse Housing, Kid WorkPlace

Supporting Mods:   Deco Sunflower, DS Fences & Decorations, Kid Abbey, Kid Animal Shed Plus, Kid Coven, Kid Deco Farm Animals, Kid Deco People, Kid Deco Plants, Kid Farmyards, Kid Forest Fellow, Kid Fruit and Nut, Kid Hedgerow, Kid Market Food, Kid Tree Topper, Kid Workshop, Tiny Chopper, Tiny Quarry




  No, weary traveler, I was not one of the mail-order brides.  My husband, Gradyn, and I met and married in Monkstown.  My name is Damara.  Our families did not get along and did not approve of our union thinking I was too young for him.  We had consulted the monks at the Monastery several time.  It was Brother Rose who suggested to the church cleric that we escort the young woman who were looking for husbands west to the Mission.   We agreed. 

[Abandoned]

Chapter 1


  It was a long journey from Monkstown; it took months.  There were 9 brides-to-be, the monk and his housekeeper, and Gradyn and me.  We traveled light with only the bare essentials for the trip.  We followed the river west from Monkstown to the main river from the north.  We crossed that river and travel overland to the Animal Refuge where they insisted we take milk cows, sheep, and chickens.  We were impressed with the tree houses they built.  We used the bridge there to cross the river and then headed south to the Mission.

  The grooms-to-be were waiting for their brides; those who could read and write had exchanged a letter or two and were happy with their choices.  The others paired up after a day or two, and then they were all happily married and ready to set off to their new homes and new lives across the river.  They asked us to stay; after some thought and discussion, Gradyn and I agreed to stay with them.  Brother Rose and his housekeeper, Giselleen, would stay too.  The Mission was overcrowded and could not spare any supplies except for some small sacks of seeds and an old anvil.  They were happy we had the livestock; they wished us luck.  There was a bridge to cross the river but then we would have to go a bit north to the clearing.



  There were 22 of us that arrived in the clearing.  We designated an area to be our stockpile, and began gathering wood, stone, and iron.  We stacked our few storage crates nearby and went in search of wild foods and branches.  We found 3 hedgerows with apples, strawberries, wild oats, honey, rosehips, and chestnuts. We used dead branches to build a few shelters, a chicken coop, animal shed, and a fishing pier.  Work was very slow, we had no tools.  The anvil was set up next to the stockpile along with a chopping block for firewood.  Tool production began immediately but was slow going.  We planted 2 small farmyards with seeds from the Mission first, then a corn and a pumpkin patch.  We were tired and hungry most of the time, and by fall we were also cold; we were dressed only in ragged clothes.  We had a few hides from the deer a couple of the men got while hunting.  There was also some flax from one of the hedgerows.  A tailor workplace was set up at the end of the hedgerow by the cows and sheep.  We shared our grain with the livestock. We were happy for them and for us that it would not get very cold and there would be no snow. 








Chapter 2


  By late autumn of that first year, we had a few tools, a few hide coats, and a few newborns.  After the corn and pumpkin harvest and some fall forest foraging, we had a nice surplus of food and firewood.  We ventured a bit farther into the forest and made a discovery.  There were 3 trees with doorways and signs that depicted these trees to be gatherer, forester, and hunter workplaces.  There was also a very large tree monster guarding the path.  Brother Rose told us the guard was a tree fellow, a protector of the forest.  They are gentle fellows unless the forest or forest creatures are threatened.  He also said that the 3 tree workplaces indicated that there must be Elves nearby.  Most Elves are friendly and helpful and would have made their presence know by now; he feared if there were Elves here, they may be Dark Elves.





  We followed the path past the tree fellow and indeed found a settlement of Elves.  They were not unfriendly, they just had not been here long before we arrived, and they had been busy.  There were 4 young couples our ages; 3 of the couples had newborns.  They were Dark Elves but were not skilled in the dark arts; they only practice conjuration producing clothes, tools, apples, walnuts, and wheat.  Their herbalist healer made a cauldron of witch's brew which we declined to sample.  The Elves came to this oak forest to protect it from destruction by settlers.  They were a coven and called themselves The Oak-huggers Circle.



  Their settlement was built in a circle.  The herbalist was at the beginning of the path by the forest.  Next to the herbalist was a small storage shed, then the conjurer, 2 houses, a Coven Hall, a gatherer, and 2 more houses.  There was a magic school, a pumpkin patch, and 2 more tree fellows.  They welcomed us to the area, assured us that tree houses did little damage to the oaks, told us that the birch and fruit trees made better firewood and nut trees provided good hardwood for building.  They gave us a sack of walnuts and again offered some of the witch's brew.  We again declined.  We went away thinking we would have no trouble with the Elves as long as we did not damage the oaks.





Chapter 3




  By late winter of that 2nd year, we had a tree topper house built by the river for the fisherman and his family.  A small shed was nearby.  A small storage barn was built by the stockpile.  By spring, a house was built behind the barn by the corn patch.  There were quite a few crows that showed up that spring so we promptly put-up scarecrows but we ended up with even more crows not less.   Some of our couples feared the crows were some kind of Dark Elf curse but the crows seemed harmless enough.





crows. First thing we noticed was that the Elven village was surrounded by a circle of oak trees that were already displaying their fall colors. The Elves admitted that these oaks were indeed magical and were colorful all spring, summer, and fall, a gift to them for protecting the oaks.  The Elves also told us that the crow was a magical bird and was said to be the smartest of all birds.  It was said to be the keeper of sacred laws and text, but here the crow was a watcher and guardian; it's loud cawing would warn us of any approaching danger; well worth a few kernels of corn.  We had nothing to fear.  Would we like some witch's brew?



  We felt no threat or danger from the Elvees but it never hurt to be cautious; we would be watcher too.  Gradyn and I built a tree topper house at our end of the path; we could watch over our settlement and the path leading to the Elves.  Another house was built near us and six more in the settlement.  The only family not in a new house in town was Brother Rose and his housekeeper.  He was concerned about the Elves, the crows, and the sacred Holy Books he had.  He would rather be farther away from the Elves and the crows.



  Brother Rose said he could wait until spring so by the end of year 3, a new animal shed was built for the sheep and one for the cows.  We built a corn crib and put coverings over the tailor, smith, and woodcutter's workplaces.  We had a nice surplus of tools, clothing, firewood, and food. 




Chapter 4



  It was Brother Rose who suggested we build an abbey in the clearing to the north; he knew there were many young women, who like his housekeeper, for one reason or another, had a child but no husband.  There were also those that had no family and did not want to marry.  An abbey would serve their needs and they could tend the fruit and nuts trees growing in the area.  There were peach and pecan trees, a cherry tree, and strawberries.  There were 2 hedgerows with walnut trees, sunseeds, berries, flax, and branches.  He and his housekeeper would only need a small house next to the abbey.  There was room there for a cemetery too.  A wall was needed to help protect the fruit and nuts from wild animals and to keep the 2-year-old toddler from roaming off into the forest.  The Holy Books would be safe in the Abbey.



   Wall building had barely begun around the completed abbey complex, in the summer of year 4, when 10 migrants arrived from the Mission.  There was an 11-year-old girl and 3 couples.  One couple had an adult son and one couple had 2 children about to reach school age.  By early spring of year 5, all the families were housed.  The adult son moved into a tree topper house by the river, his parents moved into a friendly house next to the cow shed.  The remaining 2 couples moved into the row gatehouses and a school was built nearby for the 2 young children. They became the town's first 2 students shortly after they moved into their new house.  The young adult girl moved into a tiny rowhouse back on the abbey grounds.











Chapter 5


  We barely got the first group of migrants settled when the second group arrived from the Mission, and then a third.  The second group of 13 had 10 adults with 3 children.  The third group of 17 had 14 adults and 3 children also.   We began building more 2 story rowhouses but building was slow, we were continually out of stone.  A small marketplace was built in what would be the center of the rowhouse complex.  There would be room in that center courtyard for the children to play safely. 





  The abbey wall was still being worked on.  The small abbey rowhouses now consisted of 3 tiny houses and a tailor to make linen clothes from the flax harvested from the abbey's hedgerows.   

  More building was being done in town also.  A town hall was built near our tree topper house.  We named our town Oakridge Row for 2 reasons; 1 coming from Monkstown we were bound to build row houses, and 2 there were oak trees all along the ridge that ran from northeast of our house all the way down to the Coven. 



  Across from the town hall we built a soup greenhouse to grow potatoes, onions, carrots, and cabbage.  Next to the stockpile we built a market soup maker to make vegetable soup out of potatoes and cabbage until the new chicken shed over by the corn patch produced meat chickens for chicken soup.  Down the road closer to the river, we built a grain greenhouse for corn and oats.  Across from it was a bakery that would bake bread from flour milled in the new river mill.  And because more migrants arrived, we would need more stone for more rowhouses; we built a tiny quarry not far from that new grain mill.






Chapter 6


  That group of migrants that arrived in late spring of year 7, consisted of 16 adults with 6 children.  There was still a family of 4 and a young single male waiting for housing.  We certainly did not except so many migrants but as we were told, they were worried about their children and were tired of struggling with the heat and drought farther south and would welcome the shade of the forestland.



  We calculated that the side units and front corner rowhouses would be enough to house all the families.  Even with 3 workers in the tiny quarry and 6 builders, construction was slow.  Spring turned into summer and summer into fall.   By the time the weather began to cool, we had a nut roaster built by the tiny rowhouses on the abbey grounds.  A handful of warm roasted pecans was a real treat on those cool autumn days.



Over winter the rowhouses were completed and all the new families were settled.  To celebrate, in spring of year 8, we built the White Swan tavern near the gate.  There was apple cider and witch's brew to be had.  Yes, we finally did accept some of the brew from the Oak Huggers Circle. 







Chapter 7


  We were quite pleased with our Oakridge Row settlement and abbey.  The town was very productive, we had everything we needed and more.  We even shared with our good neighbors in the Coven Circle. 











  Oakridge Row's population in the summer of year 8 was 149 citizens, 78 adults, 5 students, and 66 young children.  Everyone was healthy and happy.  Our 9 mail-order brides never for a moment regretted their decisions to come west and marry.  Their grooms likewise were happy with their wives and families.  Gradyn and I were very happy to have escorted the brides here and with our decision to stay.  Our daughter, Cherron, just started school, and our son, Gabriend, just turned 4.  He will probably grow up to be a forester; he spends a lot of time with the tree fellows in the forest. 


  So, weary traveler, those that come to Oakridge Row tend to stay in Oakridge Row but it is a nice place to visit.  Sorry to see you go. 



The End