Before the Civil War, the Underground Railroad was a network of hundreds of safe houses, churches, and farms throughout the North and South that served as way stations on the road to freedom for tens of thousands of runaway slaves.

Fugitive slaves risked their lives in this long, hazardous journey to freedom. The whites who helped them risked social scorn, business setbacks, arrests, fines, prison, and even death to lend the fugitives a helping hand. Still, by 1800, this "underground railroad," as it gradually came to be called, was intact and operational from the deep South to Canada.

Because of its secretive nature, no one really knew how extensive it was. The northerners who assisted runaway slaves devised inventive hideaways for the fugitives. Many built secret rooms in their houses or barns. One abolitionist whose home was near a river dug an underground tunnel from the basement of the house to the riverbank so that slaves could flee unobserved if slavecatchers arrived.

The Underground Railroad eventually had over five hundred safe houses, and several thousand people worked as conductors. Some of the safe houses belonged to the homes of very prominent citizens, but everyday folks worked on the railroad, too. Kentucky’s proximity to the Ohio River—and freedom for runaway slaves—prompted more activity here than in the deep South. Some leaders of this area’s underground railroad included Levi Coffin of Cincinnati, Delia Webster, a New England schoolteacher who purchased a farm in Kentucky, along the Ohio River, with abolitionist funds, Calvin Fairbank, a Northern preacher who lived in Lexington, and John Rankin, who operated one of the most active stations at Ripley, Ohio.

Sometimes entire towns served as a stop. Xenia, Oberlin, and Ripley, Ohio, each had more than a dozen homes where slaves were hidden.

The heroine of the novel "Uncle Tom’s Cabin," Eliza, was based on a real woman who, chased by slavecatchers, jumped onto a chunk of free floating ice in the Ohio river and leaped from one chunk to another until she finally reached safety.

Runaways sometimes adapted creative disguises to make it to the North. One inventive light-skinned runaway couple dressed as a wealthy white couple and traveled first class on boats and trains out of the South and to freedom. One slave woman talked a young white boy into driving her wagon, pretending she was his slave, into a free state.

That combination of danger and humanity makes the Underground Railroad a great American saga. The story faded over the decades, but during the last few years historical and cultural organizations have given it new life. Many homes from the Underground Railroad have been restored and turned into national landmarks, and communities have refurbished other homes and sites as educational showcases. Today Americans can travel as individuals or with special groups to hundreds of sites with historical ties to the railroad, including two in nearby Maysville, Kentucky and many more in Southern Ohio.

The Underground Railroad was a triumphant story of blacks and whites who worked together for freedom. If you’re interested in learning more about this fascinating part of Kentucky and American history, the Jesse Stuart Foundation Bookstore contains a number of excellent studies, including "Traveling The Underground Railroad," a visitors guide to more than 300 sites. We also have in stock a 60-minute, VHS film entitled "Kentucky’s Underground Railroad."

These books, along with thousands of other books on Kentucky and Appalachia, are available at the Jesse Stuart Foundation Bookstore, 1645 Winchester Avenue in downtown Ashland.