19/06/2026
For Junteenth, I want to share with you the incredible story of Augustus West. It's not a ghostly tale but an impressive one.
West was born in Virginia in 1814. His father was enslaved, but his mother was a free woman who provided for her children through the sales of baked goods. To avoid being enslaved himself, West came to Ohio as a young man and eventually settled down in the Greenfield area at the age of 23.
Once there, he concocted a scheme with a white man named Alexander Beatty to be returned to the South as a runaway slave. Beatty would collect a large reward, then he would help West escape and they would return to Ohio and split the profits. They did this at least three times, which earned West enough money to purchase a 177-acre farm - where he built a mansion filled with secret chambers to facilitate his role as a conductor on the underground railroad.
He eventually built a series of cabins on his land to house freedom seekers and the road to his farm became known as "Abolition Lane." Following emancipation, he built a schoolhouse to educate the children of those living at his settlement.
Augustus West died in 1887 and his final resting place is thought to be somewhere on his former farm, though I have found the burial markers of his two wives at a cemetery in Greenfield, which leads me to believe that he is buried there as well. I've also found what I am almost certain is his mansion on Google Maps, although I've been told that it collapsed years ago.
While this tale is relatively unknown locally, the story of Augustus West and Alexander Beatty became the inspiration for the 1971 film, The Skin Game, starring Louis Gossett, Jr. and James Garner.
Thanks for reading and happy Junteenth!
