On Saturday, July 23, a group of 17 pilgrims from Bellarmine Chapel on the campus of Xavier University toured New Richmond and the U.S. Grant Birthplace in Pt. Pleasant. The tour was an immersion to New Richmond’s Underground Railroad/Abolitionist sites and the Ulysses S. Grant Birthplace. The tour served as a prelude to a planned pilgrimage to Civil Rights sites in Alabama planned for the group’s Dismantling Racism initiative this fall. The tour was led by Greg Roberts, Vice President of Historic New Richmond, Inc. and Director of the Ohio River National Freedom Corridor, and Dan Hurley renowned Cincinnati historian.
The tour began in New Richmond at the historic Second Baptist Church with a review of New Richmond’s underground railroad sites followed by visits to Samarian Cemetery, and Cranston Memorial Presbyterian Church concluding at the U.S. Grant Birthplace with a review of Grant’s leadership as President during Reconstruction following the U.S. Civil War. According to Roberts “The group will be touring sites in Selma, and Montgomery, Alabama this fall. The intent of the tour was to gain a better understanding of the local 19th-century roots of the struggle for civil rights— especially the legacy of the man that many now consider as this country’s first “Civil Rights” President”, Ulysses S. Grant.”
The U.S. Grant Birthplace is open Wednesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., May through September.