Rankin House

Rankin House was the home of Presbyterian minister and ardent abolitionist Rev. John Rankin. The brick house was his home from 1828 until the early 1860s. He and his family are credited with aiding 2,000 slaves and boasted they "never lost a passenger." Harriet Beecher Stowe was a guest in his home on several occasions, and her character "Eliza" in Uncle Tom's Cabin, was based on stories of assisting slaves she heard from the Rankin family. The house is now a National Historic Landmark and sits on a bluff overlooking the village of Ripley, the Ohio River, and the Kentucky hills.