John P. Parker House

06/02/2026

05/27/2026

The John Rankin House and the John P. Parker House are part of the Appalachian Freedom Heritage Tourism Initiative to document and interpret Underground Railroad locations across Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia.

05/23/2026

Gilliland brought an antislavery faith to Red Oak Presbyterian Church in 1805. As a minister, he and his congregation sheltered and guided freedom seekers, making Red Oak a key Underground Railroad junction in southern Ohio.

Read more here: https://appalachianfreedom.com/location/red-oak/

05/21/2026

A quiet house above the Ohio River can feel ordinary for about three seconds. Then the hillside view, the lantern story, and the weight of what happened here begin to settle in, and the whole place becomes impossible to brush off.

05/09/2026

Red Oak is one of many regional sites that once played a role in the underground railroad through Appalachia.

05/06/2026

04/30/2026

01/08/2026

A good friend of the Parkers and a Ripley native.

January 8, 1922, Charles Young died in Lagos, Nigeria, while on assignment as a military attaché to Liberia.

As Young's wife, Ada Young, learned of his death, she lobbied for his body to be returned home so he can be honored with a burial in his home country. He was first buried in vault 129, in the European section of the Ikoyi Cemetery in Lagos. Thanks to her advocacy assisted by friends, family, and organizations such as the NAACP, Young’s body was repatriated and buried in Arlington National Cemetery on June 1, 1923.

Young’s 32-year career in the Army was filled with extraordinary accomplishments. In 1889, he was the third African American to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He became the first African American national park superintendent, the first African American military attaché, and the first African American to attain the rank of colonel in the U.S. Army.

Beyond his career, Young was also a musician, author, and educator. He wrote poems, scores of music, and a five-act play on the life of the Black General of the Haitian Revolution, Toussaint L’Overture. He mentored future generations of Army officers, including Benjamin O. Davis Sr. and students at Wilberforce University in Ohio. Beyond these personal achievements, Young was a son, a friend, a leader, a husband, and a father.

To learn more about the life and legacy of Brigadier General Charles Young, check out https://www.nps.gov/chyo/learn/historyculture/charles-young.htm

Photo: Charles Young, courtesy of the National Afro American Museum and Cultural Center in Wilberforce, Ohio

01/04/2026

Rhoda Jones standing outside her cabin with her dog near Ripley, Ohio, in May 1910. At this time, Jones was the oldest surviving resident of Africa, a settlement of free African Americans established on a hillside above Ripley; she was actively involved in the Underground Railroad assisting slaves to escape to freedom once they crossed from Kentucky into Ohio across the Ohio River

12/13/2025

*** CANCELLED *** DUE TO SNOW AND ICE
Ripley Heritage house tour begins tomorrow at 1 to 5. Buy your tickets at the Ripley Museum beginning at noon. We have five beautiful homes. This is the home of Jerry and Hilda Strange on front Street. You will also tour the Stonehouse owned by Barbara Campbell where her mother and father Joe and Mary Beck lived for many years and you won’t want to miss two new places recently completed. One is the party house of Bob and Lauri Benintendi on front Street and the other is the guest home of Sara Goldsberry and Walt Orlowsky on upper North second. To finish the tour stop at the Ohio to***co museum and the beautiful river home that was recently built by Lola and Jeff royalty.