SCIOTO COUNTY, Ohio — Ohio’s Shawnee State University is hosting a public gathering to mark the beginning of a three-year, tri-state historical marker and tourism initiative. The program will be co-sponsored by the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom and will focus on local Underground Railroad history in the Tri-State region, covering Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia.
The Freedom Heritage Tourism Initiative is being led by the Lawrence Economic Development Corp. (LEDC) with partners in five Ohio, two Kentucky, and two West Virginian counties. The initiative has been funded by the Appalachian Regional Commission’s POWER Grant program.
The public program, set for April 24 at 10:30 a.m., will provide an overview of the initiative and encourage the community to get involved in preserving local historical sites for future generations. Leaders in the community, as well as economic and tourism officials, are invited to attend to understand the impact of local history on the economy, culture, and quality of life.
Dr. Andrew Feight, the Director of the Center for Public History at Shawnee State University, and Dr. Cicero M. Fain III, Assistant Provost for Inclusive Excellence at Marshall University, will direct the research and community outreach involved in identifying, researching, and nominating Underground Railroad historical sites to the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.
“The tri-state region has a rich and dramatic history of Underground Railroad activity,” said Dr. Feight. “This local history reminds us that American history happened right here.”
The National Park Service officials will discuss the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program and how it has helped other American communities with their economic development and tourism efforts. Dr. Fain explained that the identification, documentation, and preservation of previously unknown sites on the Underground Railroad are fundamental to chronicling an important chapter of the unwritten history of the region and critical to the development of a diversified cultural heritage tourism industry in the region and state.
For more information on the Appalachian Freedom Heritage Tourism Initiative for the Tri-State Region, contact Marty Conley at LEDC, Andrew Feight at Shawnee State University, or Cicero Fain at Marshall University.
