INDIAN HILL, Ohio — Daniel Buford does not keep in mind a lot. He solely lived there till he was 5. However he remembers one mild bulb hanging from a wire within the ceiling. He tells me that is how a lot of the rooms had been.
Now 71, Buford is sitting in what was a kitchen. He factors to the remnants of a cistern the place his household used to get water. It is one of many solely issues left that actually resembles a house — one of many solely issues that reveals how his household moved right here with nothing, however discovered a approach to survive.
“I used to truly stay in these ruins,” Buford stated.
Buford holds up his proper hand, laughing whereas he faucets a strolling stick in opposition to his palm.
“Someplace on that hand, there’s some stitches that I earned proper on this property,” Buford stated. “My blood is actually on this land.”
He smiles now. As a result of that is one thing he is been dreaming about.
“My household’s historical past is Ohio historical past,” Buford stated. “And our story has by no means been instructed.”
It is a story about folks escaping slavery — his great-grandparents — and discovering a house right here in Indian Hill.
“Morgan’s raiders had been on the lookout for slaves, and so they went to Indian Hill understanding there have been some up there, however they by no means did discover us,” Buford stated, laughing.
Go inside a secret neighborhood with ties to the Underground Railroad right here:
Inside a secret Cincinnati neighborhood with ties to the Underground Railroad
“This was an ideal place to stay and keep away from the racism that was utterly surrounding them — and set up a neighborhood,” stated Ken Barnett Tankersley, a retired professor of archaeology on the College of Cincinnati. “That’s what this story is definitely all about.”
Barnett Tankersley is a world-renowned archaeologist who went to highschool with Buford in Madisonville. He was finding out the historical past of this neighborhood a number of years in the past when Buford moved again residence from California as a result of the previous reverend sensed this story was being misplaced to historical past.
“I wanted to return again and defend my heritage,” Buford stated.
Buford inherited his household’s property and shortly started cleansing it up. By now, it regarded extra like a forest than anyplace which may have housed folks escaping slavery.
So, when he reveals me the property on Camargo Street, he brings a machete to chop by the branches and weeds which have largely overtaken it.
“Buckle up,” Buford stated.
Keith BieryGolick
After he cleared it out, he introduced Barnett Tankersley there. After which, the professor introduced a category of scholars. They regarded to see if there was proof to assist Buford’s story.
There was.
“When you concentrate on archaeological websites, these are the rarest of all of them,” Barnett Tankersley stated. “The location had by no means been documented — nobody knew something about this besides Dan and his household.”
As we stroll by the woods on a current morning, Barnett Tankersley stops and picks up a brick. He locations his hand on its aspect, the best way somebody would have whereas molding it a whole lot of years in the past.
Then, he factors out a palm-sized imperfection.
“I do know for another person, it’s only a brick,” Barnett Tankersley stated. “However what’s superb is it actually has the handprint of Dan’s ancestor nonetheless on it.”
Keith BieryGolick
What’s subsequent?
Now, Buford is working with one other group of UC college students to proceed documenting the world.
“We’ve barely scratched the floor,” Buford stated.
He plans to fulfill with neighborhood members and others from UC later this month. He hopes at some point his household’s property shall be listed on the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations.
