Near Midway in Scott County, Kentucky — The American South (East South Central)
Zion Hill Community
Photographed by Duane and Tracy Marsteller, March 28, 2021
1. Zion Hill Community Marker
Inscription.
Zion Hill Community. . Located off Paynes Depot Road in Scott County, Zion Hill is one of several remaining hamlets in central Kentucky. Hamlets were established by formerly enslaved persons in Scott County and other surrounding counties after the Civil War. Residents typically worked as domestic and farm laborers on nearby estates, practiced skilled trades, such as blacksmithing and masonry, or worked in the horse industry as grooms, handlers, and jockeys. While not exempt from the inequalities of Reconstruction, hamlets such as Zion Hill provided independence, property ownership, and a close-knit community for newly emancipated African Americans in central Kentucky., Zion Hill, originally known as Lenerson, quickly expanded to nearly 250 residents, two stores, and a church. A second church and schoolhouse were added later. In 1929, one of Kentucky's 158 Rosenwald Schools was constructed at Zion Hill. Whitney M. Young, who served as president of the Lincoln Institute in Shelby County, attended Zion Hill's first school., Caption: Zion Hill Rosenwald School , Photo Credit: Fisk University, John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library, Special Collections, Photograph Archives. , African American Hamlet Map Credit: Reprinted by permission of American Geographical Society (AGS).
Located off Paynes Depot Road in Scott County, Zion Hill is one
of several remaining hamlets in central Kentucky. Hamlets were
established by formerly enslaved persons in Scott County and other
surrounding counties after the Civil War. Residents typically worked
as domestic and farm laborers on nearby estates, practiced skilled
trades, such as blacksmithing and masonry, or worked in the horse
industry as grooms, handlers, and jockeys. While not exempt from
the inequalities of Reconstruction, hamlets such as Zion Hill provided
independence, property ownership, and a close-knit community
for newly emancipated African Americans in central Kentucky.
Zion Hill, originally known as Lenerson, quickly expanded to nearly 250
residents, two stores, and a church. A second church and schoolhouse
were added later. In 1929, one of Kentucky's 158 Rosenwald Schools was
constructed at Zion Hill. Whitney M. Young, who served as president of
the Lincoln Institute in Shelby County, attended Zion Hill's first school.
Caption: Zion Hill Rosenwald School
Photo Credit: Fisk University, John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library, Special Collections, Photograph Archives.
African American Hamlet Map Credit: Reprinted by permission of American Geographical Society (AGS).
Location. 38° 7.702′ N, 84° 38.201′ W. Marker is near Midway, Kentucky, in Scott County. It is on Weisenberger Mill Road 0.6 miles south of Leestown Road (U.S. 62/421), on the right when traveling south. Marker is at bridge over South Elkhorn Creek. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Midway KY 40347, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the Bluegrass Region and in Greater Lexington Area. It is also in the American South and specifically in the Upper South. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture and also the Antebellum South.
Also see . . . Zion Hill (Scott County, KY). Notable Kentucky African Americans Database entry. (Submitted on April 4, 2021, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.)
Credits. This page was last revised on April 4, 2021. It was originally submitted on April 4, 2021, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. This page has been viewed 773 times since then and 83 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on April 4, 2021, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
