Communities

The small towns spread across Clermont County were part of the network leading north from the Ohio River.  Underground Railroad Conductors worked in concert with lines to the east in Brown County and to the west in Hamilton County as well as the Quaker communities to the north in Clinton and Warren County.  As an Ohio River County, Freedom Seekers often were followed in hot pursuit by slave catchers as they crossed the river from Kentucky.  The Clermont Freedom Trail seeks to link the historic Underground Railroad routes with the modern communities and to highlight their significance to the cause of freedom for all Americans.
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Presbyterian Church, New Richmond, Ohio
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County Courthouse Batavia, Ohio
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Methodist Church, Felicity, Ohio

The Borderlands Between Slavery and Freedom

​The Borderland Between Slavery and Freedom

The issue of slavery was most divisive on the border between free and slave states​.  Those speaking out against the "peculiar institution" were subject to ostracism, censorship and violence from pro-slavery men from both sides of the Ohio River.  ​With the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 the U.S. Congress created stiff penalties for aiding slaves seeking freedom.  It also compelled free citizens to aid in their capture.  This further encroachment on the rights of free citizens in free states energized the radical elements in the abolitionist movement.  Due to the harsh government and social penalties,  vocal anti-slavery people were a small minority.  We may never know the names and the extent of the actions of the silent and secret few whose conscience lead them to do right by their fellow man.