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Applications for the locations were completed by Outreach Specialists managed by Andrew Feight, director of the Center for Public History at Shawnee State University, and local author and historian Cicero Fain III as part of the .

James Monroe Escape in Guyandotte

On the edge of the Guyandotte neighborhood in Huntington, near the Ohio River, James Major Monroe escaped from enslavement in August 1836 when the area was still part of Virginia. Monroe would travel through Ohio and eventually reach Canada.

The site where he escaped has also been added to the URR Network to Freedom, referred to now as the “James Monroe Escape.�

“James Monroe risked his life to garner his freedom. He left his wife behind and had actually quite a difficult journey, eventually getting to Toronto, Canada. But amazingly, he will return two years later to come back searching for his wife, unfortunately to no avail,� Fain said.

“His story is an example of the unquenchable thirst to be free.�

Historic preservationist Karen Nance described the Guyandotte area near the Ohio River in the 1830s as a “commercial hub.� She said the spot would have been full of businesses, warehouses and docks because of trade in the area.

At first — Fain said in an application to the NPS — the town did not grow quickly, but when steamboats were introduced on the Ohio River in the 1820s, Guyandotte became a major port. The Old Turnpike Road was also replaced by the new turnpike in the early 1830s.

Nance said, “The James River Kanawha Turnpike — as far as bringing people in — and trade and things into this area by road came right here. So everybody came on it and got on and went west. They could, after the paddle boats [came], easily go up north.�

Monroe’s escape

Although many people in Guyandotte were slave owners at the time, freedom could be seen just on the other side of the river, Nance said.

Monroe, whom Fain said was documented in the Virginia census as being enslaved in Guyandotte, was reported by the Monthly Offering newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts to have escaped in 1836 due to his “imminent sale to the lower markets.�

“That’s the cotton fields,� Nance said. “That’s in the Deep South. That’s short life, and they all knew it. So they didn’t want to risk, if they could go and find a way to get on the river and get across the river, then they did.�

According to the newspaper article from 1841, Monroe was 30 years old when he escaped and made his way to Chillicothe, Ohio, before he was captured. He was held in a tavern before he escaped again at night.

A Quaker took him in and treated his wounds, according to the newspaper account, which doesn’t explain how or when Monroe was wounded. In two weeks, he continued his journey.

Fain: Monroe aided by a ‘grapevine telegraph’

Fain said while it can’t be known for sure, he believes there was a ‘grapevine telegraph’ that existed in the area in which enslaved persons interacted with free Black people and allies who could inform each other about developments or news like Monroe’s escape.

As abolitionists across the river continued to come into Guyandotte, Nance said, news circulated, and it was dangerous to leave. She said enslaved individuals might have had their tendons in their ankles cut to keep them from running or been otherwise punished. If their families were left behind, they might have also been punished.

“You had enslaved persons who wanted to get to freedom, and you had allies, both Black and white, on that side of the river who assisted them,� Fain said. “And I think that’s part and parcel of this story we’re trying to tell, is the bravery and the ingenuity that was, that the freedom seekers and their allies engaged in to ensure that they made it to freedom.�

NPS process for URR additions a ‘lot of work’

Fain said Ohio has 103 sites on the National URR Network to Freedom, the most of any state, while West Virginia will now have five with the addition of the Green Bottom Plantation in Glenwood, Mercer County.

The National Park Service’s bar is set high for the network, Fain said, making applications a “lot of work,� including completing original research and supplying maps and other verifiable evidence, as well as the name of a freedom seeker associated with the location. Overall, the process took a few months, and one location was rejected.

“Increasingly, when African American history is under assault and being removed, it’s important to recognize that Black people risked their lives to get freedom. But it’s also important to realize they had allies who assisted them,� Fain said of the significance of the network. “I think that’s a vehicle by which we can all garner some sense of pride in their era of contentiousness and polarization.

“There’s still work out there to be done, and these folks who endured the most horrific conditions, who endured for many, many years the evils of slavery, to all of a sudden say, ‘No further,’ this is a testament to the human intellect, is a testament to the community — recognizing that we can assist in challenging an injustice and bettering life for everybody.�

Nance said of the network, “A place matters. To be able to mark a place where it happens ... you cannot get the feeling that that brings to you when you talk about the past as actually walking in their shoes.�

A dedication ceremony will be held for the James Monroe Escape in late June, as well as the Green Bottom Plantation, but no date has been set yet, Fain said.