Every mystery begins somewhere.

The House of Glass & Vines began beneath the street of a small Iowa town, where forgotten history inspired a story about memory, hidden places, and the secrets that refuse to stay buried.

When Elara Ashcroft inherits a forgotten Victorian glass house in the small Iowa town of Briar Hollow, she expects dust, legal paperwork, and a chance to finally understand the family she never knew.

Instead, she discovers a house that seems to remember her.

Hidden passageways appear where walls once stood. doors unlock with antique keys she has never seen before. Old journals rewrite themselves overnight. And every object she touches pulls her into vivid echoes of lives long gone– as if the house itself has been waiting for her return.

As Elara follows the trail left behind by a young woman named Evelyn Hartwell, she uncovers a mystery rooted in the town’s forgotten history and the underground streets buried beneath it. But the deeper she searches, the more she realized someone has spent generations keeping those secrets hidden.

With the help of Rowan Thorne, whose family has guarded the Glass House for decades, Elara must decide whether some memories are meant to be uncovered or whether the past was buried for a reason.

Because beneath the vines, beneath the glass, and beneath the streets…

something is still waiting.

The House of Glass & Vines is an atmospheric supernatural mystery inspired by the real history of Iowa’s hidden places, forgotten towns, and the underground city beneath Independence– where history and imagination intertwine.

Not everything buried stays forgotten.

Inspired by Real Iowa History

Most people walk through downtown Independence without realizing another story lies right beneath their feet.

Before the Underground

In the 1840’s and 1850’s, Independence’s downtown sat much lower than it does today, right along the Wapsipinicon River. The original streets and storefronts were built close to river level because that was practical for commerce and transportation.

The Town Begins

In 1847– Independence was founded and chosen as the Buchanan County seat on June 15, to take the place of nearby, Quasqueton, in that role. The name “Independence” was chosen partly because the Fourth of July was approaching. Independence was originally only on the East side of the river.

On the West side of the river, a separate settlement called New Haven sprang up around the mill and damn in the 1850’s. It had it’s own identity for a time before becoming part of Independence as the town expanded.

In 1853– The town had only about a dozen residents, a few stores, a sawmill, and a blacksmith shop.

In 1854– The original New Haven Mill was built and later its foundation became part of the larger Wapsipinicon Mill. That means, if you crossed the river, you weren’t just going to another neighborhood, you were entering a different village.

By the late 1850’s– The town had grown into a busy community with hotels, churches, stores, mills, machine shops, and a courthouse.

Why is there and Underground City?

The original business district flooded repeatedly because of its proximity to the river.

Rather than demolish the downtown, business owners made and extraordinary decision to raise the buildings and sidewalks, creating a new street level above the old one. The earlier storefronts, sidewalks, and basement–level spaces remained beneath the modern downtown instead of being destroyed.

Today, many property owners have preserved portions of those lower levels, and during special events the Buchanan County Historical Society offers Underground City Tours, where visitors can walk through parts of the original nineteenth-century downtown hidden beneath today’s streets.

Fun Fact:

The “underground city” isn’t a separate buried town– it is the original street level. When you go underground, you’re essentially walking through preserved pieces of Independence as it existed in the mid-1800’s. That’s one of the things that makes it so unusual.

Meet the Characters

ELARA ASHCROFT

“The house knew her name long before she crossed its threshold.”

She came back to Briar Hollow after she inherited a house that seemed to remember her. Instead, she ended up searching for answers about a family she barely remembered. .

Every room whispers with forgotten lies. Every artifact hold and echo of the past. As Elara follows impossible clues through hidden passageways and beneath the streets of the town, she discovers that some stories refuse to stay buried– and that her own story may have begun long before she was born.

The deeper she searches, the more one question begins to haunt her:

Why does the house recognize her.. when she has never been there before?

ROWAN THRONE

“Some families inherit fortunes. His inherited a promise.”

Rowan has spent his entire life guarding secrets he was never allowed to explain.

The Glass House isn’t simply abandoned.

It is watched.

Every generation of his family has protected its mysteries, knowing that some doors should never be opened and some memories should never be awakened.

Then Elara arrives.

She asks the questions he’s spent a lifetime avoiding– and every answer he gives, the line between protector and prisoner begins to disappear.

Because the greatest danger beneath the Glass House…

may not be what waits in the darkness.

It may be what has finally awakened.