Ann Story's Cave: A Revolutionary War Tale

The following excerpt is taken from Joseph P. Nelson's book on Vermont's Covered Bridges. The Salisbury or Station Bridge in Cornwall/Salisbury, Vermont is within walking distance of Ann Story's Cave. For additional information, see our feature on covered bridges.

"The site of Ann Story's cave lies about one-third of a mile north of the Salisbury Station Bridge. Ann Story's husband Amos had taken rights to one hundred acres not far south of where Swamp Road crosses the railroad tracks today. There, he and his son Solomon built a cabin and cleared a field. Amos was killed by a falling tree, but Ann was determined that the family was going to live on their land. In 1774 she and Solomon and her other four children came to the cabin Amos had built. There the Storys planted the field. In 1775, in the beginnings of the Revolutionary War, Tories and Indians began pillaging unprotected settlements. Other settlers retreated to Rutland, but Ann and her children stayed on to harvest their crops. They dug a tunnel into the west bank of the Otter Creek and stayed there at night while they continued to work on the land by day."

"The tunnel remained undiscovered until a Tory heard a baby crying as he passed nearby. He surprised the Storys when they came out and demanded that they leave. Ann sent Solomon to Rutland to warn the people that the Tories were back. As a result, fourteen Tories were captured and taken to Fort Ticonderoga. This, and her resolve to defy the king's forces, gave Ann Story her reputation as a heroine of the revolution. There is no road to the little clearing by Otter Creek, but there is a monument there."

Source: Joseph C. Nelson, Spanning Time: Vermont's Covered Bridges, Shelburne, VT: The New England Press, Inc., 1997.