Union Baptist Church in Blackfork, Ohio was recently added to the National Park Service's Network to Freedom Marker Program in March. Founded in 1819, it is the longest continuously operating African American church in Ohio and served as a critical node in the Underground Railroad network that helped escaped enslaved people reach freedom, often traveling northward toward Canada.
The Poke Patch community, where the church is located, was an important stop connecting crossing points in Burlington, Ironton, Gallipolis and Portsmouth. Church members, both Black and white, assisted freedom seekers through clandestine routes as part of an interracial network that operated illegally under then-existing laws.
What the Left Is Saying
Progressive historians and advocates for African American historical preservation welcomed the recognition as a long-overdue acknowledgment of Black communities' role in resistance to slavery. Dr. Andrew Feight, professor of history and director of the Center for Public History at Shawnee State University who helped research and nominate the site, said the designation brings visibility to an interracial network that operated at great personal risk.
"This is where the Underground Railroad began once people successfully got across the Ohio River," Feight said. "This network was interracial. Whites and Blacks working together at times, sometimes by themselves. It was a clandestine secret network because it was illegal to assist freedom seekers."
The Appalachian Freedom Heritage Tourism Initiative, which aims to highlight 27 sites along the Underground Railroad and nominate them to the Freedom Marker program, played a key role in documenting Union Baptist's history for inclusion.
What the Right Is Saying
Community members and local historians emphasized the importance of preserving regional heritage regardless of political perspective. Longtime member Hope Rippey said the recognition validates generations of community effort to maintain the church and its legacy.
"It's a great feeling to know you had ancestors that helped migrate here in the community and help build this church to make it what it is today," Rippey said. "It's been past, present and future."
Deacon Paul Keels highlighted how the struggle of previous generations continues to inspire current congregants. "It's a blessing when you start thinking about the saints that came before us, how they had to struggle to keep the church going," he said. "It kind of makes you want to go that extra mile to get here on time Sundays because some of them walk for miles and through all kind of weather just to get here to worship the Lord."
What the Numbers Show
Founded in 1819, Union Baptist Church is 207 years old and claims the distinction of being the longest continuously operating African American church in Ohio. Historians estimate that approximately 200 enslaved people escaped through this region between 1840 and 1860 using Underground Railroad routes connected to the Poke Patch community. Currently, around 20 members attend weekly services.
The National Park Service's Network to Freedom program includes hundreds of sites across the United States associated with the Underground Railroad, a network of routes and safe houses used by enslaved people escaping to freedom before the Civil War ended slavery in 1865.
The Bottom Line
Union Baptist Church's inclusion in the National Park Service marker program represents one of several recent efforts to document and recognize sites connected to the Underground Railroad. Plaques from both the Appalachian Freedom Heritage Tour and the Ohio History Connection will now tell stories of the church's history to visitors.
Rosetta Keels, a congregant, said the designation affirms the spiritual and communal values the church has embodied for over two centuries. "I feel the love of the people in this church, and when you come through this church, you feel love," she said. "This is a praying church, and we were brought up to love one another."
The recognition adds Union Baptist to a growing list of Ohio sites highlighted by heritage tourism initiatives aimed at bringing economic and educational attention to historically significant locations outside major metropolitan areas.