Secrets Under the Parking Lot: The True Story of Upper Arlington, Ohio, and the History of Perry Township in the Nineteenth Century

Pleasant Litchford and his family traveled as freed slaves from Virginia, who settled in Franklin County, Perry Township, Ohio, in the years between 1829-1830. The family struggled alongside other pioneers to establish a home in the Ohio wilderness. By the time of the Civil War, Pleasant was the fourth-largest landowner in Perry Township. He was a staunch advocate for the anti-slavery movement and a strong figure in the Underground Railroad. Pleasant and his family were also founders of the...