Appalachian Freedom Heritage Tour

01/05/2025

We are thrilled to announce eight new sites have been added to the National Park Service Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program in the tri-state area!

As a part of the Appalachian Freedom Heritage Tour, these new NTF sites have been added in: Lawrence, Scioto, and Gallia Counties in Ohio; Greenup County in Kentucky; and Cabell County in West Virginia.

These site include:
-Quinn Chapel AME Church of Ironton, Ohio (Lawrence County, OH)
-Kirker Homestead (Adams County, OH)
-Campbell House (Lawrence County, OH)
-Pleasant Green Baptist Church of Portsmouth, Ohio (Scioto County, OH)
-Bethel AME Church, now John Gee Black Historical Center (Gallia County, OH)
-Greenup Slave Revolt Group Escape Site (Greenup County, KY)
-Escape from Green Bottom Plantation (Cabell County, WV)
-James Major Monroe Escape Site (Cabell County, WV)

The Network to Freedom program, created by Congress in 1998, highlights more than 800 places and programs. The Network verifies that each one is a true story about the men, women and children who freed themselves or were helped by others to escape enslavement. Some succeeded and others, tragically, failed. The Network to Freedom program has listings in 41 states, Washington, D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands and Canada.

The Appalachian Freedom Heritage Tourism Initiative is made possible by the Lawrence Economic Development Corporation and POWER grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission.

Stay tuned to learn more about each of these sites over the course of the next few days!

25/04/2025

Anthony Burns was born enslaved in Virginia in 1832. He was hired out to others and took the opportunity to secretly learn how to read while he was young. During a machinery incident that left his hand crushed, Burns had a religious awakening and began preaching the evils of slavery to other enslaved people around him.

Burns made his plan for escape in February 1854, by secretly boarding a boat that would take him to Boston. He wrote a letter to his brother back in Virginia that led to Burns’s owner figuring out his location. Under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, a warrant was issued for Burns’s arrest. On May 12, 1854, Burns was arrested by a federal marshal under the falsity of robbery charges.

Due to Boston’s tight knit anti-slavery community, word spread quickly about Burns’s arrest. A raid led to the door of the Boston Courthouse being broken down with a battering ram by abolitionists and the death of a federal marshal. Unfortunately, the rescue of Burns was unsuccessful.

After the court ruled in favor of the enslaver on June 2, Burns was set to be returned to slavery in Virginia. This led to a massive protest of 50,000 people hanging up black banners and acting as a funeral procession, even having the word “Liberty” written across a coffin. In 1855, Massachusetts passed a law, stating they would not return anyone to slavery.

Once arriving back in Virginia, Burns was put in a jail for four months by his enslaver before he was sold to another enslaver in North Carolina. The abolitionists in Boston had lost track of Burns until he happened to be recognized by a neighbor. Word spread back to Boston of Burns’s whereabouts. Leonard Grimes, a minister at 12th Baptist Church where Burns had attended while he was in Boston, took up a collection and raised $1,300, purchasing Burns’s freedom by February 1855.

Burns raised money by speaking about his life. He obtained enough money to attend Oberlin College in Ohio where he studied ministry. He wanted to join the congregation at the church he used to attend in Virginia, but was told his escape was an act against God. Burns wrote back, "That manstealer who stole me trampled on my dearest rights. He committed an outrage on the law of God…God made me a man- not a slave."

Following his education from Oberlin, Burns was a pastor at a church in Indiana, but left after strict laws prohibited Freedom Seekers from entering the state. Afterward, he moved to Ontario where he accepted a pastoral position at a church there. On July 27, 1862, Anthony Burns died of tuberculosis at the age of 28.

23/04/2025

“Imagine it’s January 1838, in Ripley, Ohio. Wind rattles the windows of the Red Oak Presbyterian Church where a meeting of the local Anti-Slavery Society has just adjourned. You are a dedicated abolitionist and over the past few years you’ve sheltered fugitive slaves in your barn. But even so, every time you attend a meeting here, you feel a renewed passion for the cause.”

Jump into this immersive episode of American History Tellers to learn about the emergence of the Underground Railroad in the 1830s. From David Ruggles who walked into New York homes to free enslaved individuals, to John Parker in Southern Ohio who would cross the Ohio River into Kentucky to remove Freedom Seekers who were held in bo***ge, local Anti-Slavery Societies were key to the operation of the Underground Railroad.

In the 1830s, abolitionism became a political force to be reckoned with. In the face of harassment and mob violence, Black and white abolitionists staged ral...

21/04/2025

Explore the Underground Railroad history in Central Ohio with this episode of Columbus Neighborhoods.

This episode takes us through three Underground Railroad sites where abolitionist familiesーthe Bulls, the Hanbys, and the Keltonsーassisted Freedom Seekers who had arrived at their homes. Once Freedom Seekers crossed over into free territory, their journey wasn’t always over.

“The Underground Railroad in Ohio was like a spiderweb of routes and trails. Probably the major route is what is now Route 23, coming from Portsmouth, Ohio, up the side of the river corridor, right into Columbus, and then going on to Lake Eerie.”

Explore the Underground Railroad in Central Ohio. Visits the Hanby House and Kelton House.

18/04/2025

Lewis Hayden was born enslaved in Kentucky. He was sold several times, including a time that would separate him from his wife and son forever. Upon marriage to his second wife Harriet, Hayden, his wife, and their son fled captivity in the mid-1840s, with one of their stops being at the Red Oak Presbyterian Church in Brown County, Ohio. After making it to Canada, the family, now with a daughter, settled in Boston.

The Haydens participated in many anti-slavery acts: opening their home, raising funds, donating clothes, and providing transportation to Freedom Seekers. Lewis Hayden led raids of the Boston Courthouse, successfully rescuing Shadrach Minkins in 1851, and a failed attempt in 1854 to rescue Anthony Burns.

Hayden was a prominent leader beyond his work with the Underground Railroad. He served as Grand Master of the Prince Hall Masons, led community meetings against the Fugitive Slave Law, and worked alongside William Cooper Nell to integrate Boston Public Schools in the 1850s.

Appointed as Messenger to the Secretary of State, Hayden became one of the first Black state employees, holding the position for 30 years. During the Civil War, he recruited Black soldiers for the Massachusetts 54th Infantry Regiment.

After the war, Hayden became one of the first Black members of the Massachusetts General Court. As a state representative, he was a strong advocate for women’s suffrage, honoring the contributions of women in the abolitionist movement and declaring that Black Americans owed them a great debt.

16/04/2025

Learn about the life of Salmon P. Chase, a lawyer who defended Freedom Seekers and Underground Railroad conductors.

In this episode of The Oldham History Podcast, join Jameson Cable as he tells the story of several famous legal cases that were defended by Chase. If a case was lost on one level, Chase would appeal and try again in another court. His practice inspired legal actions, like one that found slavery unconstitutional. This specific instance came from his defence of Matilda, a woman who had been brought into Ohio by her enslaver/father. Chase defended her on the grounds that she had been willingly brought into the free state by her master, ergo, his intent must have been to free her.

Listen to the rest of Chase’s popular cases and how his legal career sparked a successful political one in this episode.

The Oldham Podcast Network is a local media platform created to educate, inspire and open discussion about everything Oldham County. Brought to you by Oldham Chamber & Economic Development along with

14/04/2025

At the 48th Annual Appalachian Studies Association Conference, the Appalachian Freedom Heritage Tourism Initiative team, along with Dr. Chris Leadingham (an expert on the history of the interstate slave trade), presented the history of the brave men and women who resisted their enslavement by escape and flight in what is becoming known as the Greenup Revolt. Research conducted over the last two years by Marlitta Perkins, our Outreach Specialist, and Dr. Andrew Feight, our Director of Research and Outreach, has recovered the shocking details of the revolt and ensuing trial and executions.

This extraordinary act of resistance to slavery occurred on August 14th, 1829. It was then, nearly 196 years ago, that 58 enslaved men, women, and children were being force-marched from Maryland to Mississippi. Soon after reaching the Ohio River, while passing through Greenup County, Kentucky — just some eight miles from Portsmouth, Ohio — a group of the chained men broke free and made their escape with others, including some of the women. In their escape, two of the traffickers were killed while the third was wounded and fled the scene. Unfortunately, all Freedom Seekers who had escaped were recaptured and some were then placed on trial for murder.

Currently, the Greenup Revolt and its location near Lynn, Kentucky, is under review by the National Park Service to add the revolt escape site to their Network to Freedom. The NTF program recognizes and help preserve the locations and sites that were prominent to the Underground Railroad and the overall resistance of slavery. The site will become part of the new Appalachian Freedom Heritage Tour, a new driving tour of verified, NTF sites in the Tristate region of Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia.

11/04/2025

Levi Coffin was born in North Carolina in 1798 to a Quaker family. Influenced heavily by Quaker beliefs, Coffin detested seeing people around him in bo***ge. By 15, Coffin was assisting his family in providing food and shelter to Freedom Seekers. He attempted to open a school to teach enslaved persons to read and write, but it failed since no one was allowed to attend.

Once he moved to Indiana, Coffin assisted more than 2,000 Freedom Seekers over 20 years. His home became known as the "Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad."

In 1847, he moved to Cincinnati where he opened the Western Free Produce Association. The store sold only products that had been made by free (non-slave) labor. Coffin continued to use his home as an Underground Railroad station until the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, to which he then retired and wrote his memoirs.

09/04/2025

Did you know that when enslaved people sang of the River Jordan, they were often referring to the Ohio River?

Due to the Ohio River being the border between several free and slave states, Freedom Seekers risked their lives in many daring ways to obtain their freedom by crossing the Ohio River one way or another.

Check out this episode of Riding Freedom’s Train: The Underground Railroad in the Upper Ohio Valley to learn about several ways Freedom Seekers gained their freedom. From swimming to shipping themselves into freedom, many Freedom Seekers found themselves all over the United States.

“Escaping slaves moved in many, many directions. Not just north, and not just toward Canada. In many cases there were free communities of people there who were willing to receive them and to help them. Help them find jobs, help them find lodging, and to make a home.”

[Excerpted from the CD jacket of Riding Freedom's Train: The Underground Railroad in the Upper Ohio Valley] Wherever there are instances of institutionalized oppression and cruelty, history provides u

07/04/2025

Book recommendation: "Beyond the River: The Untold Story of the Heroes of the Underground Railroad" by Ann Hagedorn.

Known for its history in the Underground Railroad, Ripley, Ohio, was a beacon for Freedom Seekers. Those who crossed the Ohio River into Ripley were likely to find shelter in one of the many abolitionist homes. The town attracted more than Freedom Seekers, though, as it seemed to also pull in the abolitionists who despised slavery and wanted to help those in it escape.

Before the Civil War, Ripley was involved in “the war before the war,” which was another way of saying that the abolitionists of Ripley were already ready and willing to fight for immediate emancipation. Many of the residents, like Rev. John Rankin, were scorned elsewhere for these ideas and beliefs. In Ripley, though, the town uplifted one another. While others saw the freezing of the Ohio River as a loss of waterway travel, Ripley citizens were preparing for the Freedom Seekers who would brave the sometimes thin-ice in order to cross over into free land.

“Eighteen thirty-eight was a time of danger and conflict, a time to be wary of shadows in the alleys off Front Street, a time some in Ripley would remember for more than…the killing temperatures, and the brittle ice. For, although Ripley was a town of ordinary pleasures, it was also a town of extraordinary secrets, a town with a double life.”

04/04/2025

As part of our new tour development, we are currently working with the National Park Service to list the location of James Ashley’s former residence on their Network to Freedom, which marks sites connected to the history of the Underground Railroad.