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Living History Open House

September 21, 2002

Visitors to the Oberlin Heritage Center's Living History Open House met and conversed with participants in the 1858 Oberlin-Wellington Slave Rescue, one of the major events in Oberlin's abolitionist history. When a fugitive slave who was living in Oberlin was captured by slave-hunters, hundreds of Oberlin citizens rallied together to save him from being taken back into slavery. Thirty-seven men from Oberlin and Wellington were arrested for breaking the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, and their trials shocked the rest of the country. Historian Nat Brandt even claims that this event made Oberlin "The Town that Started the Civil War."

The Cast

The Event

Ruth Schwaegerle, board member and volunteer, staffed the information booth all afternoon.

Chauncey Wack explains his pro-slavery views to guests on the porch of the Jewett House.

Children enjoyed playing historic games.

Enthralled visitors listen to the Rescuers and their families as they recount the events.