Kentucky Country Day sophomore Catherine Bache's interest in the Underground Railroad began in the sixth grade, when she learned about the network of safe houses through an interactive simulation.
During the field trip, she assumed the role of a fugitive slave, she said, and "it opened my eyes."
Bache, 15, hopes to provide others a similar educational opportunity with an Underground Railroad reenactment at Locust Grove on Friday.
Participants of "Faces of Freedom: Preserving the Stories of the Underground Railroad" will assume the roles of freed slaves who have returned to the South to lead family members and other slaves to freedom. They'll carry "freedom papers" as they venture to different places on the Locust Grove property, where they will encounter costumed interpreters representing different groups of people living during the early 1830s, she said.
Bache, who volunteers with Locust Grove, said the Underground Railroad represents a "crucial and misunderstood time" in American history.
"The purpose of my project is to help educate the public by explaining many of the myths and actual facts," she said. "I feel the need to preserve the truth."
She said many people don't realize that routes along the Underground Railroad weren't guided or clearly indicated, or that many of the people helping fugitive slaves reach freedom were African Americans, not white abolitionists.
Jennifer Jansen, guest services manager at Locust Grove, said even though the historic property off River Road was not a stop on the Underground Railroad, "slavery is an important part of the Locust Grove story that there's not that much written about."
"It's important to us to be able to represent something about it, even if Locust Grove wasn't involved with the Underground Railroad," she said.
Before John Croghan — the oldest son of William Croghan and Lucy Clark Croghan, who built Locust Grove — died in 1849, he detailed in his will instructions to free his personal slave immediately upon his death, Jansen said. The other slaves, he directed, were to work in various places for seven years and have their wages saved for an eventual return to Liberia.
As far as historians know, Jansen said, none of the slaves returned to Liberia. A few actually remained on the property for some time.
The little documentation available to historians indicates those living at Locust Grove had mixed feelings about slavery, Jansen said. Some letters reveal that Croghan felt like a paternal figure to his slaves.
"But on the other hand, he didn't free people until he didn't need them anymore," he said.
After the program's two-performance run at Locust Grove has ended, Bache will donate the scripts — which she wrote — to the National Park Service Network to Freedom, which will make them available to historic sites across the country.
Bache, who has been a Girl Scout since she was in first grade, planned the reenactment as part of a project for her Girl Scout Gold Award, the organization's highest achievement. She said she has spent more than 100 hours on the project since July — conducting research, writing scripts and rehearsing in addition to other "behind the scenes" work.
As part of the project, Bache will nominate Shrofe House, a site of Underground Railroad activity in Northern Kentucky, for the National Register of Historic Places.
Bache said all her work has been "enjoyable."
"I love studying history and the people who have created our nation's past," she said.
Reporter Kirsten Clark can be reached at (502) 582-4144 or on Twitter by following @kirstenlmclark.
'Faces of Freedom'
What: Interactive Underground Railroad reenactment
When: 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Friday
Where: Locust Grove, 561 Blankenbaker Lane
Information: Reservations are required. Call (502) 897-9845.