Glendale in Hamilton County, Ohio — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
The Eliza House
Photographed by Steve Stoessel, April 30, 2019
1. The Eliza House Marker
Inscription.
The Eliza House. . Three hundred yards east of this location on Oak Road, overlooking the Miami and Erie Canal, was the house of abolitionist John Van Zandt 1791-1847). For years this house was known as one of the most active "stations” on the Underground Railroad. In 1842, two bounty hunters from Sharonville caught Van Zandt helping eight runaway slaves who had escaped from owner Wharton Jones of Kentucky. Defended in court by Salmon P. Chase, who became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1864-1873. Van Zandt was convicted and fined. Chase appealed the case to the U. S. Supreme Court, where he tested the constitutionality of the 1793 Fugitive Slave Law. When writing her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe used Van Zandt as the abolitionist character John Van Trompe. Van Zandt's house became associated with the book and was known as "The Eliza House" named for one of the novel's main characters
Three hundred yards east of this location on Oak Road, overlooking
the Miami & Erie Canal, was the house of abolitionist John Van Zandt
1791-1847). For years this house was known as one of the most active
"stations” on the Underground Railroad. In 1842, two bounty hunters
from Sharonville caught Van Zandt helping eight runaway slaves who
had escaped from owner Wharton Jones of Kentucky. Defended in
court by Salmon P. Chase, who became Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court of the United States from 1864-1873. Van Zandt was convicted
and fined. Chase appealed the case to the U. S. Supreme Court, where
he tested the constitutionality of the 1793 Fugitive Slave Law. When
writing her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe used Van Zandt
as the abolitionist character John Van Trompe. Van Zandt's house became
associated with the book and was known as "The Eliza House" named
for one of the novel's main characters
Erected 2005 by National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Villages of Evendale, Glendale and Woodlaw, The Ohio Historical Society. (Marker Number 31-66.)
Location. 39° 15.726′ N, 84° 27.041′ W. Marker is in Glendale, Ohio, in Hamilton County. It is at the intersection of Oak Road and Chester Road, on the right when traveling west on Oak Road. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Cincinnati OH 45246, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Greater Cincinnati. It is also in the American Midwest and in the Ohio River Valley. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, the territory of the Mississippian Culture, and the Northwest Territory.
Credits. This page was last revised on May 9, 2019. It was originally submitted on May 7, 2019, by Steve Stoessel of Niskayuna, New York. This page has been viewed 1,869 times since then and 47 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on May 7, 2019, by Steve Stoessel of Niskayuna, New York. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.
