Underground Railroad Marker Dedication Ceremony

Three years ago, the Appalachian Freedom Heritage Tourism Initiative and regional managers with the National Park Service held a panel discussion at Huntington’s A.D. Lewis Center, announcing the goal to nominate 27 Tri-state area UGRR sites to the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.

The AFHTI is excited to announce that the National Park Service recently approved the placement of a UGRR marker celebrating freedom seeker and conductor Asbury Parker, who initially escaped from Cabell County, to be added to the National UGRR Network to Freedom. The addition of the Parker site brings the total number of AFHTI-approved Tri-state sites to 26, including the first three in Cabell County’s history!

To honor Parker’s remarkable life, the AFHTI team cordially invites you to his marker dedication ceremony at Harris Riverfront Park at 11 am on Friday, June 19th, coinciding with the federal holiday of Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.

Please join other community members committed to preserving Black history, educating the community on the centrality of the Tri-state region to the UGRR, and celebrating a brave and intelligent man who risked his life to gain his freedom and that of others!