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The secret tunnel of the home on Court Street
CANFIELD
The Cashbaugh family is not only selling former Judge Horace Ruggles’ home but also the history that comes with it.
Stacie and Sonny Cashbaugh, as well as their daughters Marissa and Mariah, are moving to a smaller and older home after spending 91/2 years at 17 Court St.
The 170-year-old home, on almost an acre, has 15 rooms, including five bedrooms and four bathrooms. It’s two stories with two fireplaces and an indoor therapy pool. It’s not the large size, the history of owners or the meticulous architecture that makes this home so special, though: It’s the secrets of the tunnel underneath the house.
The tunnel used to lead from the judge’s home to the jail house – now disassembled into stones lining the home’s front lawn – for the first Mahoning County Courthouse.
Some claim the tunnel was used as part of a much bigger movement than just transporting the judge from his home to the court house.
“This house is supposedly part of the Underground Railroad. There’s a tunnel in the basement and a room inside of a room [which] could’ve been a hiding place,” said Sonny Cashbaugh.
The hidden room is inside a bathroom on the second floor and has an extra window – one that no one would question or assume it would go to a secret room.
“Every year, I say I’m going to open that tunnel, so part of the draw for everyone is that whoever buys the house gets to open the tunnel,” Cashbaugh said.
The mystery of what the home and its tunnel was used for may never be known, but many have argued and speculated over the “false room” and the tunnel being in the abolitionist’s home, Sonny Cashbaugh said.
A Youngstown State University class visited the home a few years ago to record and preserve antique items as well as try to uncover what the home’s purpose could have been.
Chaney High School students also took part in a study, gathering evidence to make the argument the home was in fact part of the movement of slaves.
The Canfield Historical Society put in a bid on the home to preserve it but didn’t get the home.
The Coope family, who owned the home before the Cashbaughs, wanted a family to live in the home. The Cashbaughs bought it for $135,000.
Stacie Cashbaugh said the home was in poor condition when they purchased it – holes in the floor and wallpaper barely hanging.
“When we got the keys on Oct. 31, we passed out candy on the porch, and it was kind of fitting [for Halloween]. It looked like a creepy old haunted house,” she said.
The Cashbaugh family did not let the home’s shortcomings deter them, however.
“We did the whole first floor – we revamped it – within a month and a half and had Christmas [with family] here,” Stacie said.
She said the majority of renovations got done in the first four months.
“It’s almost an eclectic house – you see every era in it,” she said.
An oddity she said she found when she moved in was an intercom system the Coope family installed. She said she took it out when she moved in. It wasn’t until communication became an issue that she figured out why the Coopes had it.
“I never was in a home this old before. We have to go to the top of the steps to yell for the girls upstairs,” Stacie said.
The Coope family also added a therapeutic pool. It was heated and used for helping with their arthritis.
A drop panel on the wall near the pool spins around a TV, allowing entertainment combined with water fun.
Although the house is somewhat updated, she said she and Sonny left some of it original: plank floors, oil lighting fixtures changed to electric, wall paper that was still hanging and furniture and artifacts that were in good condition.
The Cashbaughs saved whatever they could of what couldn’t be preserved.
Sonny said his favorite feature is the vast natural lighting.
“One of the things I’ll miss the most, [is when] the sun comes up on one side of the house and the moon lights the other,” he said.
Mariah Cashbaugh, 14, said some of her friends are upset to see her family move.
“I just love the whole layout of the house, it’s so unique,” Stacie said. “You’re never going to find anything like it. ... I love the architecture, too, with the trim all the way around the windows, the casings, [and] the arched doorways. It’s something you don’t find in homes anymore.”
The Cashbaugh family is one of only four families to live in the home. The others were the Ruggles family, the Diebold family and the Coope family.
“Generally the families stay, and then the kids take over,” Stacie said.
She said the home is just too big for them now.
The home’s listing price is $269,900. For a tour, call Sher Wenowitz, Realty Home Pride Realtor, at 330-518-1791.