Mt. Orab to Maysville

I cycled out of Mt. Orab this morning to get to one of the key spots on the Underground Railroad: Ripley, Ohio and then on to Maysville, Kentucky. Ripley was only about 30 miles down the road. At 9 am on a Sunday morning it was a quiet place, so I rode down to the water to look across at where so many slaves had crossed to freedom.

Kathleen and I linked up there briefly and she headed on south to Aberdeen and them Maysville so we could check in before any rain hit. Fortunately the rain held off. Climbing out of riverside Maysville I realized that once again, whenever you get a good descent like that coming into Ripley, you have to pay for it later.

I parked the bike and cleaned up and we went to see more of the sites using the car. I confess that his is not "pure" but it is our vacation so we will do as we please! We visited some of the slave holding places in Old Washington, toured through the sites in Maysville, places where there had been holding pens for slaves who were being sent south, etc.

The back to Ripley. We found there the homes of two giants of the Underground Railroad effort. John Parker and John Rankin. Parker was himself a freedman and his house sits right along the river. That meant that he was never free of the possibility of being grabbed and carried back into slavery. He openly served as one of the conductors on the URR and held many people reach other conductors to the north. Parker created an iron foundry and was an inventor who holds on of the first patents issued to an African American. Parker was known for his daring, in-your-face forays into Kentucky to free slaves and bring them across. He lived a double life, of sorts, even as his notoriety caused wanted posters to be hung in KY.

John Rankin was a Prebyterian Minister who was encouraged to leave his home in Tennessee because of his views on slavery. He was bold enough to preach them aloud. He connections with people in Ripley and went into debt to build a house there. We visited just as Sunday hours were closing, but got to stand on the hill looking down at the river crossing. Rankin made it his life's work to help as many slaves as possible find freedom. Slaves from throughout Kentucky knew to cross the river and then climb the hill to Rankin's house (now called Liberty Hill) where he helped them disappear into the forest for the trip to Canada or to the communities of freed slaves in southwest Ohio. Rankin lived for many years with a bounty on his head.

We had a powerful day, standing where giant souls stood and worked. It felt like standing on the bank of the Jordan that place of liberation for Israel. Here, people found liberty, but at far greater risk.