East Muskingum 8th graders travel to several locations in abolitionist history

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – 8th-grade students from East Muskingum Middle School have been all across Zanesville today to learn about abolitionist history.

The students spend Tuesday morning touring the various historical locations tied to the Underground Railroad and the abolitionist movement. Places like Putnam Presbyterian Church, the Stone Academy, and finally the Gant House. 8th grade teacher, Karey Bradley says the students have been learning about this history in the classroom, but loved to see it in their own backyard.

“It’s a wonderful experience. A lot of them didn’t know that these places even existed and some of them, as we walked by today, said, ‘Well, I pass this place a lot and I didn’t know it was here.’ So they were excited to get to see, especially like I said, the hiding place where the slaves hid because that’s what they’ve learned about in school and they didn’t know it was right here in Zanesville,” Bradley said.

For students like Brooklyn Smith and Suzy Saxton, seeing the physical connections to the struggles of the past gave them an appreciation for those who lived through it.

“My favorite part about today is probably seeing, like, the hiding places of where all the slaves were hidden, so they wouldn’t, like get caught when they were running away,” Smith said.

“I admire them so much because not only were the people hiding them, they were risking their lives to help others and the people who were escaping, they had to suffer through so much for freedom,” Saxton said.

The Gant House also hosted 3rd graders from West Muskingum Schools this past Wednesday. You can learn more about that story by clicking this link.