Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Liberty Hill

Late November we started a post about our mini vacation outside Nati City.
Then our computer crashed.
But today perhaps the post is relevant for our city became a  "sanctuary city" today.
We have Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport just 14 miles away and we are the home base for Procter and Gamble.  We are a diversified city which believes in freedom for all.
In 1861 Ohio sided with the Union and became a free state.
Our mini vacation took us on the Freedom Trail.  If you were a slave and you made it across the Ohio River (which is to my right in the picture) you could have some help in making your way North. The further North the safer you were.
I, Sweet William The Scot, and Lee are going to climb that hill just like the slaves escaping the South.
At the top of the hill sits the Rankin House, the house has great history.
It was one of many Underground Railroad Stations.
It commands one of the most beautiful views on the Ohio River. Seven bends may be seen on a clear day.  Can you grasp running for your freedom from the other side of the Ohio River.
The climb took Wills and me most of the morning.
One hundred steps led from the town of Ripley to the house on the hill.
A minister, Rev. John Rankin  felt with the houses proximity to the river and its owner's fierce opposition to slavery, the Rankin home was a perfect choice to become a stopping point on the Underground Railroad.
Lee is going to interject here that her Quaker ancestors were also a stop on the Underground Railroad at Lebanon, Ohio.
The Rankin family (which included 13 children) was proud of never having lost a "passenger". Most of the 2,000 escaped slaves who traveled through Ripley stayed with the Rankins.
Harriet Beecher Stowe heard Rankin's account of a slave who carried her child across the thawing ice of the Ohio River and was saved from the bounty hunters that chased her when the ice broke up. Stowe later included the story in her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. Six of Rankin's sons and one grandson fought in the Civil War, all survived.
Under this porch floor many hid.
The Rankins would keep a light burning in the front window as a beacon for runaway slaves to guide them to their home.  His wife and thirteen children protected the home from bounty hunters and escorted slaves to neighboring stations.

Although slavery was never legal in Ohio, The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made aiding escaped slaves a crime.
Allies aided the escape of more than 100,000 slaves along the Unground Railroad.
Rev. Rankin aided more than 2,000 being one of the most active conductors.
Lebanon, Ohio where Lee's ancestors had a stop would be the second dot on the left from the bottom.
Our next stop was the Parker House which I will tell you about next time.
We said goodbye to this stop and climbed back down the hill to our car.
We will show you where we stayed and ate in another post.
Some day we will take you on the barn quilt tour.

Lee has never said what our politics are and we won't but we are humanitarians and have deep roots in believing and promoting human welfare for all.

Thanks for being a friend
Traveling down the road and back again
Your heart is true and your a friend of  mine
Signing Off 
Sweet William The Scot


24 comments :

  1. What a very inspiring post, Sweet William and Lee. Thank you so much for telling us about these wonderful people who risked so much to do what was right.
    Toodle pip!
    Bertie (and Gail).

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    1. We are still risking for becoming a "sanctuary city" we risk loosing funds to repair and build a new bridge across the Ohio River which is one of the most traveled bridges in the United States. We risk federal funding (our own tax dollars) taken away from our City.
      SWTS

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  2. We really enjoy learning about different places. Mom wants to buy an RV and go all over the place
    Lily & Edward

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  3. That is truly a story we need to never forget. Here in Battle Creek, MI, we also have big ties with the underground railway.

    In more recent years, in the Netherlands, petcretary's furmily helped hide and protect Jews and others from the Nazis...one uncle nearly lost his life...but had enough warnings to flee. Peeps who risk so much to protect freedoms of others are heroes.
    And today it seems we are fighting other battles for freedoms too.
    Freedom is not a political thing in our eyes, it is a God given right for all persons who are made in His image.

    Thanks for sharing your city with us today.

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    1. This week the Washington Post ran and article by Amy Wang titled "A ship full of refugees fleeing the Nazis once begged the U.S. for entry. They were turned back". The SS St. Louis. It had pictures of children and saying where they died under Nazi Germany. They were divided between four countries that had agreed to take them: Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. Maybe petcretary's family hid one of those displaced.
      SWTS

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    2. Not sure, never heard of stories with children...but she has read of things like that, and once a long time ago there was a TV show about children displaced. What a horror for all those poor children. I imagine some of them might still now be alive and able to tell this tale.

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    3. The true story of the SS St. Louis was made into a movie called the Voyage of the Damned and old movie made in 1976.
      http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075406/

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  4. Thanks Lee and SW, great history lesson. Of course heard the history, but never seen the actual places. Thanks. We hope you are feeling better, too.

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  5. Hari om
    Pawfect post fur current times SW and Lee... it seems that every generation needs to relearn this example. Sigh. Glad to have you back on the air! Hugs and wags from a travelling YAM-aunty xxs

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  6. Y'all always have the best history and I love hearing all about it. Mom says our little town doesn't have squat. Only thing we can brag about is the Original FUMC is the one my dad's grandmother help get built. We now attend the newer church which my great grandma never attended.

    Aroo to you,
    Sully

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  7. I'll leave the light on for you.

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  8. We always love learning about the area around your great city. Thanks for taking us along.

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  9. Crikey Sweet William ..... Mum and I love reading about your wonderful city. Mum is determined to get there one day. I do hope you and Lee are recovering from your unpleasant experience.

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  10. William that was a great tour... so many thanks! The mama read the book about Uncle Tom's cabin as she was a youngster... and it was something what stayed in her memory furever&ever...

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  11. Very nice post! It's always great to learn the history of a new place. Thanks for sharing.
    Jessi

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    1. Jessi do you have an actual blog or are you just on Google+ ?
      Sweet William

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  12. Thank you for sharing this with us Lee this was a wonderful post. Sweet Will you are looking well. stella rose

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  13. Hi Sweet William and Lee,
    I really enjoyed reading this and learning more about the history of your country. Thanks also for visiting my blog.

    You are correct that I haven’t posted for ages. Hopefully I will get the busy one who types (and reads me other doggie blogs) back to posting about me this year!

    Love and woofs,
    Riley

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  14. I am proud of your city for becoming a sanctuary city. Our city is as well! Very important in these crazy times. We are humanitarians as well and hoping for peace and understanding for all.

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  15. That was very interesting Sweet William. Thanks for sharing

    Wags
    Oreo

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  16. Thank you for sharing that inspiring post. Very interesting to read that history. We and our peeps believe in peace and compassion for all. Nose licks and love from Moth xx

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  17. Dear Sweet William, thank you fur sharing such impawtant history. It is good to stop and think about these things. Let us have compassion for every person. Always.
    Your Furend
    Louis Dog Armstrong

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