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Witherby Meadows

  Witherby Meadows, the site of the 2014 Citirama,  is named for the Witherby Family who once owned a large farm on both sides of Belmont Avenue.  A part of this farm is the site of this year’s Citirama. Rev. Danforth Witherby was a traveling preacher who moved his family to this farm in 1802.
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College Hill Connections to Cary, N.C.

This year – 2014 – marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of a man without whom Cary, North Carolina would not be named Cary.  Samuel Fenton Cary is the man for whom this town was named because of his strong prohibitionist views. Samuel Fenton Cary grew up in College Hill when it was a farming community near
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In search of Mulberry Grove…

Where exactly was Charles Cheney’s farm, and the house that served as one of Mt. Healthy’s waystations on the Underground Railroad? Local lore varies on the location: one account has it near the old school site at Harrison and Compton. Another says it was near the north end of Mt. Healthy, close to the present day
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Boone County ties to Hamilton Avenue

  Seven abolitionist history buffs set out for Boone County on Friday, May 30th, to tour Abolitionist sites.    We had visited and worked with  Bridget Striker, the Boone County local history librarian as we researched for our September 21st event.   The documents that we sent Bridget convinced her that many more freedom seekers
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April, 1853–Spring Brought a Message of Hope

In Boone county, Kentucky, the newspapers in April, 1853 were filled with news of “slave stampedes.”  It began on April 2 with 28 freedom seekers walking away from Petersburg through Cincinnati and up Hamilton Avenue with an overnight stop in College Hill. I was taken by surprise  when I read that exactly today, 161 years ago,Harriet Tubman
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Lane Rebel docudrama filmed in Cincinnati

Lane Rebels and Harriet Beecher Stowe Film Seeks Support

The cast of a new abolitionist docudrama that was being filmed at the Stowe House in late February welcomed local people to watch the filming and learn about their project.  Len and I stopped by the Stowe house and met the cast of this exciting drama about the Lane Seminary Debates which started a national
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UC Intern makes our Local History Video

In a Public History Internship last summer, I was given the task of creating a video introduction for the living history tour “Hamilton Avenue Road to Freedom”.  As a UC History major, and Electronic Media minor at the University of Cincinnati, this was the perfect opportunity to combine my two fields of study and apply
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1851 Valentine

Happy Valentine’s Day 2014.  Will you save the valentines you get today?   Will you get a valentine from someone who might someday become president?  Helen L. Kemper kept this valentine she received from Benjamin Harrison in 1851 when he was a student at Miami University.  Two years later he married Dr. Scott’s daughter, Caroline Scott
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How many black abolitionists can you name?

 Despite the increased renewal of interest in abolitionism, blacks have largely been absent from these portrayals. In Lincoln, black opposition to slavery was kept to a few scenes; PBS’ The Abolitionists profiled only one black abolitionist,Frederick Douglass; and in 12 Years a Slave, abolitionists are all white, ignoring even Solomon Northup’s role fighting slavery and demanding reparations after
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The Mystery of John T. Crawford

Thanks to John Johnson for a very nice article in the Sunday, Feb. 9th Enquirer “The mystery of John T. Crawford” on pages AA14-15.  There is so much more to be told so we will post a new page under College Hill with more information about Mr. Crawford.    He bought his farm here in
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