I highly recommend that if you live in the Ohio area to take a trip to the Rankin House located in Ripley, Ohio. John Rankin was an abolitionist whose home served as a station on the Underground Railroad. John Rankin, a Presbyterian preacher, purchased the house specifically with slaves in mind. The house is high on top of a hill overlooking the Ohio River. Slaves in Kentucky would cross the river and climb the steep riverbank to the house where the Rankin family would hide them until they were ready for the next leg of the journey. John Rankin was friends with Harriet Beecher Stowe who lived in the Cincinnati area. Rankin told Ms. Stowe the story of an escaped slave named Eliza who later became a character in Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
For more information, go to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rankin_(abolitionist)or to
http://www.ripleyohio.net/rankin.htm.