James and Sophia Clemens Farmstead

James and Sophia Clemens Farmstead
Front and side of the farmhouse
Location: Liberty Township, Darke County, at 467 Stingley Rd.
Nearest city: Palestine, Ohio
Area: 4 acres (1.6 ha)
Built: 1850
Architectural style: I-house
Governing body: Private
NRHP Reference#: 01000199[1]
Added to NRHP: March 15, 2001

The James and Sophia Clemens Farmstead is a historic farm in far western Darke County, Ohio, United States. Located at 467 Stingley Road,[1] little more than 1 mile (1.6 km) from the Indiana border,[2] it is among the oldest extant buildings that remain from a small community of free blacks founded before the Civil War.[3]

Natives of Rockingham County, Virginia,[4] James and Sophia Clemens settled in Darke County in 1818 and soon became prosperous farmers. Their success led many other former slaves to migrate to the vicinity, and a community known as "Longtown" (alternately "Tampico"[4]) gradually grew up in the vicinity of the Clemens farm. As the years passed, the community became a center for the Underground Railroad, complete with a Quaker school known as the "Union Literary Institute"; among the movement's leaders in the community were the Clemens family.[3]

The Clemens house itself was erected circa 1850 on land that its residents purchased in 1822.[5] A two-story brick building, it rests on a limestone foundation and is covered with a tin roof. Built with an "I-house" floor plan,[6] Although the house today sits without human inhabitants, a movement to restore the house and designate the Longtown vicinity a state historic landmark began in the mid-2000s.[5] The Clemens house itself has been designated a historic site, having been listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001, although with the other building on the property.[1] It qualified for the Register both because of its place in local history and because of its association with James Clemens, who was seen as a significant individual in the history of Darke County.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
  2. ^ DeLorme. Ohio Atlas & Gazetteer. 7th ed. Yarmouth: DeLorme, 2004, 54. ISBN 0-89933-281-1.
  3. ^ a b James & Sophia Clemens Farmstead, National Park Service, n.d. Accessed 2010-08-15.
  4. ^ a b Wilson, Frazer. History of Darke County Ohio: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time. Vol. 1. Milford: Hobart, 1914, 554.
  5. ^ a b Historic Ohio Town Fights 'Mega Dairy', National Public Radio, 2006-02-13. Accessed 2010-08-15.
  6. ^ a b Clemens, James and Sophia, Farmstead, Ohio Historical Society, 2007. Accessed 2010-08-15.
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