We Are Now an Official Underground Railroad Site

Why This Matters

Historic St. Paul holds an extraordinary place in Kentucky and American history:

• Our sanctuary hosted the 1897 funeral of Lewis Garrard Clarke, the freedom seeker whose life inspired the character George Harris in Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
• After escaping enslavement in Madison County, Clarke became a national abolitionist lecturer and spoke at St. Paul in 1892.
• At his death, he received unprecedented honors: his body lay in state at the Main Street Auditorium (now the Lexington Opera House) — the first tribute of its kind ever given to a Black man in Kentucky.
• Built in 1826, our church served as an active Underground Railroad station, with a hidden upper room and a stairwell behind the pulpit where freedom seekers found refuge.
• To protect them further, the church purchased the adjacent city stray pen, helping to mask scents from tracking dogs.
• Oral tradition affirms that Lewis Clarke, Lewis Hayden, and others were aided through this network of protection and faith.

Today, Historic St. Paul remains one of Kentucky’s few surviving Underground Railroad–era sites, preserving tangible links to faith, resistance, and freedom.

A Message from Our Pastor

“The birth of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 18th-century Philadelphia, we have been tasked with housing the homeless, educating those who desired to read and write, feeding those who could not feed themselves, and most importantly, introducing them to a God who liberates the captive and frees the prisoner. Historic St. Paul took up that mantle, and for decades in antebellum Lexington, our congregation cared for those who were yearning for liberation from enslavement. Within our sacred space, many enslaved men and women found a safe haven on their journey North to freedom. This acknowledgement is a signal moment in our history which we do not take lightly because it was not only the just thing to do, not only the honorable thing to do, it was the righteous thing to do. It was, and is, our sacred duty to care for those seeking justice and freedom, and we will not stop until all people see justice and are free.”

— Rev. Dr. Walter R. Henry, Pastor, Historic St. Paul A.M.E. Church