From left to right: Christine Hadley Snyder, a member of the Harveysburg Community Historical Society stands with Sherrill Albertson Martin of Knoxville, Tenn., a direct descendant of Elizabeth Burgess Harvey and Dr. Jesse Harvey, founders of the 1831 Harveysburg Free Black School, and her daughters, Julie Hoffer and Lori Cole, both from Tenneessee. Hoffer and Cole are sixth-generation descendants of the school’s founders. (Harveysburg Historic Fall Fest | Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024)
Check out the highlights from the ninth-annual Harveysburg Historic Fall Fest held on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024.
Held annually on the third Saturday in September to honor President Abraham Lincoln issuing the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on Sept. 22, 1862, the Harveysburg Historic Fall Fest celebrates the Elizabeth Harvey First Free Black School with tours of the one-room schoolhouse, entertainment and Civil War reenactments.
Elizabeth Harvey and her husband, Dr. Jesse Harvey, were both educators who established the school in 1831 – the first in Ohio and the Northwest Territory – to educate African American and Native American children who had been denied the opportunity for public education. Elizabeth believed that freedom comes through education, and she and other Quakers worked to combat prejudice against African Americans in Harveysburg.
The Harveysburg Community Historical Society has an ongoing GoFundMe campaign to raise matching funds for an Ohio Facilities Grant. The money will be used to build an educational and cultural center on the school property, located at 23 North St., Harveysburg.
