Gant House Preserves History

The Nelson T. Gant homestead gives the Zanesville community the opportunity to learn about the struggles of African Americans.

Nelson T. Gant House serves as a museum and resource center as well as a place to learn about local African American history. Gant was a former slave and conductor on the Underground Railroad, who settled in Zanesville.

“The African American community has suffered through a lot of things and has made a lot of contributions. When we look at Nelson Gant we see an individual that came here an emancipated slave, became a millionaire,” explained President Steve Stewart. “What were his secrets? What did he do? How was he able to work with this community to develop what he did?”

The Foundation’s newly elected board members said it’s their responsibility to show both the great things about our community, while also acknowledging where they community has failed, so that we can all learn from the past so that we don’t repeat those same mistakes in the future.

“So one of the things that we are going to do with the Gant House is we’re going to show you the raw belly of our community, what happened, how we’ve progressed on and we’re going to look for the cooperation of the community to move forward, to keep us moving forward as a full community, recognizing the strengths of all parts of our community, said Stewart.

This year the Gant House has many activities planned including taking part in the Zane Trace Commemoration, the properties Gant owned are also being researched to get a better sense of what life was like back then.