The Written Word About Ripley's Underground Railroad

Now, I don't know exactly how many people are out there reading this blog, but I am happy to say that one reader is a fellow Ripley enthusiast and author of two books about the Rankin family.  Stephanie Reed contacted me after reading some of this blog to share her love of Ripley history.  When she was a young girl, her family traveled through Ripley on their way to visit her Kentucky grandparents.  Her curiosity of and fascination with the information on the Rankin House historical marker stayed with her as an adult and prompted her to write her stories of Lowry and Johnny Rankin.  Being one who can never pass up a good book, especially one so close to my family history,  I immediately ordered her two books, Across the Wide River and The Light Across the River.  

I am now in the middle of her first one, Across the Wide River and find it a fascinating look at the history of Ripley and the Rankin family.  Her descriptions of early Ripley with the hogs running in the streets, the steamboats on the river, and the town's layout have given me a glance into the early 1800's when my Gates and Guy families lived in the area.  Stephanie's ability to capture the feelings and attitudes of pre-Civil War Ripley through her characters, most of whom are factual,  paint a picture of what it must have been to experience that place during that time.  While the book is labeled as teen fiction, I would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn of Ripley and the Rankin family's part in the history of the Underground Railroad.  I can't wait to read the second book which tells the story of Johnny Rankin and the escaping slave, Eliza, upon whose story Harriet Beecher Stowe based her book, Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Those of you who know me, know that up until this year, I was the teacher of third graders.  While South Carolina third graders learn the state's history, I believe that children must also understand that the history of one state is influenced by the history of the country as a whole.  Therefore, each spring, when we studied the antebellum period in South Carolina, I would read Doreen Rappaport's children's book, Freedom River.  Freedom River tells a story of John Parker, another of Ripley's abolitionists.  Parker, a freed slave, owned an iron foundry in town and worked with the Reverend Rankin, Thomas McCague, and others as they hid and helped slaves on their journey to freedom.  

Rappaport's story is exciting and, after hearing it, I would often see my third graders playing the parts of John Parker and Master Shrofe at recess as they re-enacted the story of the daring rescue of the slave family and their baby.  It was through that story that quite a few South Carolina children came to know the story of an ex-slave who rescued other slaves in a little town that they would have probably never even heard of if I hadn't been their teacher.  It's a great book for children and, especially if you have ties to Ohio or Kentucky, the children in your life deserve to hear the story of John Parker.

There are, of course, other great books that deal with the subject of Ripley, her anti-slavery citizens, and the Underground Railroad.  I will share some of those at a later date.  Until then, I hope you take the time to find Stephanie Reed's and Doreen Rappaport's books.  They will be well worth your time to read!

The House on the Hill

One of the most noticeable things in Ripley, besides the Ohio River, is a house that sits on a hill behind the town.  It can be seen from a great distance, and all children who live in the area are taught its significance to Ripley's history.  

I don't know when I was first told the story of the Rankin House, but it seems that it has always been a part of my Ripley repertoire of knowledge.   As a child I knew that slaves had crossed the Ohio River, headed toward a light in a window on the hill, where the Rankin family would hide them in their house, just one stop on their way north to freedom.  As I progressed in school and learned of the Underground Railroad, the pieces came together and I understood the part that Ripley had played in our country's history.

Part of the Rankin House story includes the one hundred wooden steps that led from the town to what became known as Liberty Hill.  When my mother was a young girl,  my grandparents purchased a house on Fourth Street just up from St. Michael's Catholic Church.   The backyard of the house led into woods and the bottom of those steps.  My grandmother claimed that her great - grandfather, Joseph Montgomery, helped build the steps.  I have never found any proof of that claim, and, in fact, the Montgomery's did not actually live in Ripley before the Civil War, but they did live in Brown County so maybe it is possible that my grandmother's story is true.  I would like to think, anyway,  that maybe part of my family was involved in the abolitionist effort.

If you are interested in the history of the Rankin House and Ripley's part in the Underground Railroad, there are many web sites that you can view.  You will find links to a few of them at the bottom of this post.  There are also books that have been written on the subject that deserve a spot of their own which will be my next posting.  

Rankin House Links

Historic Ripley - The Ripley Bee

The Rankin House

Ripley's Underground Railroad