Berea's Storied Past
In 1850 the area today known as Berea was simply called ‘The Glade’.
In 1853, Cass ius M. Clay, a well-to-do Kentucky landowner and prominent leader in the movement for gradual emancipa tion of slaves offered abolitionist preacher Revered John G. Fee a 10-acre homestead on the edge of the mountains. Fee accepted and established an anti-slavery church with 13 members on a ridge they named "Berea" after a biblical Greek town that had been receptive to the gospel.
Fee started a one-room school in 1855 that eventually became Berea College. He believed in a school that would advocate equality and excellence in education for men and women of all races based on principals of learning, labor, and service. Thus, Berea College began as the first interracial and coeducational college in the South.
During the Civil War, the town of Berea was a refuge for the families of fleeing Southern black men who enlisted in the Union Army at Camp Nelson in Jessamine County. In 1866, the first full year of education after the Civil War, Berea College enrolled 96 blacks and 91 whites.
In 1904 the Kentucky state legislature passed the Day Law, targeted at Berea College, which forced school segregation. The College fought the legislation all the way to the US Supreme Court and lost. Forced segregation remained in effect until 1950. In the interim, Berea College opened a sister school for blacks, the Lincoln Institute outside of Louisville. At the same time, Edwin Embree, grandson of John Fee, was tapped by Julius Rosenwald to lead his famous organization that provided initiative, money, and guidance for the building of more than 5300 schools for rural black communities in the South.
In the 1890’s, a growing national interest in the culture and traditions of Appalachia by writers, academics, missionaries, and teachers led Berea College president William Frost to take traditional coverlets exchanged by students for tuition on a fundraising trip north. Frost saw, in the mountain coverlets, the potential for preserving a craft tradition and - at the same time - developing a new market for Appalachian crafts. With the support of donors, Berea’s “Fireside Industries” began in 1883, followed by the “Homespun Fair” first staged on Commencement Day in 1896. Berea College’s history of leading the Appalachian craft revival was firmly entrenched. In 1890, a coverlet from Berea debuted at the Paris Exposition along with the Eiffel Tower, winning a gold medal.
As a testament to the interwoven relationship between town and college, in 1960, Berea College helped sponsor the formation of the Kentucky Guild of Artists & Craftsmen. The College provided free office space and later two boxcars that traveled as the Kentucky Guild Train, in all likelihood the nation’s first mobile arts program.
Today, Berea is a thriving community of artists, students, and progressivelyminded individuals committed to community, creativity, social justice, and environmental responsibility. World-renowned artists and craftspeople operate over 40 shops and studios. Berea College is consistently a nationally top-ranked school with exemplary students not only from Kentucky but more than 60 countries. Rich history, vibrant creativity, and continuing vision combine to make Berea a compelling travel destination for art and history buffs alike.
