Ripley map   Save
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Description: Map showing the boundaries of Ripley, Ohio, along the Ohio River, from "Atlas of Brown County, Ohio / from actual surveys by D. J. Lake and B. N. Griffing. To which is added a map of the State of Ohio, also an outline and rail road map of the United States and the hemispheres" (1876). Ripley is the site of the Rankin House, an important stop on the Underground Railroad in the decades preceding the Civil War. Home to Presbyterian minister and abolitionist John Rankin, the Rankin House stood on a 300-foot-high hill known as "Liberty Hill," which overlooked the Ohio River. Rankin would signal fugitive slaves in Kentucky with a lantern or candle, letting them know when it was safe to cross the river. To access Rankin's home on the hill, those seeking their freedom had to climb 100 wooden steps. Rankin would provide the former slaves with sanctuary, keeping them hidden until it was safe for them to travel further north. He likely moved from his home to Ironton in the late 1860s, several years before this map was made. The home is now a museum, part of the Ohio History Connection's statewide network of historic sites, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: A912_771_B812L_Ripley
Subjects: Rankin, John, 1793-1886; Ripley (Ohio); Underground Railroad--Ohio; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century; Maps;
Places: Ripley (Ohio); Brown County (Ohio);