The Tablertown museum received grant funding for research into Black and American history in southeast Ohio
By: Arielle Teppert
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STEWART, Ohio (WOUB) — The Tablertown People of Color Museum received grants funds to further its research into the connections between the Underground Railroad and a historic Black community in southeast Ohio.
David Butcher, founder of the Tablertown museum in Stewart, said since he was young, he’s been a history fanatic.
“I’ve been a collector my whole life, not only a collector of items, but a collector of stories, oral history,” said Butcher.
He wanted to translate his love for history into a project, so he founded the Tablertown People of Color Museum, which sits in the same area that he and his ancestors are from.
Butcher’s main goal is to educate people on Black and American history, while making sure not to leave out any parts of the story.
“I can’t tell you about my African American history without talking about my German ancestry and my Native American ancestry. Anytime I leave any part of that out, you’re only getting a partial truth,” said Butcher.
Although he said teaching history is important, it does not come without challenges.
“Being a nonprofit, small organization, is very difficult. And when you’re dealing with federal grants, it is even more complicated,” said Butcher.
Amanda Flowers, a member of the board of directors at the museum, said applying for grants is hard work but well worth it.
“There were times that he and I were talking at 3 o’clock in the morning because he was getting up to start working on not just our grant, but other grant projects he was doing,” said Flowers. “And I was going to bed because I had worked all night on working on these.”
Their efforts paid off when Tablertown received a $40,427 grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission.
“The focus of this grant is preserving the Underground Railroad and related Black history in the local area,” said Flowers.
Both Butcher and Flowers explained that they hope to hire a researcher, because they are working on tying the museum to the Underground Railroad and their family’s history.
In addition to this project, Butcher and his team will open another museum in conjunction with the current one.
“We will start with the history of the people that were here before us. In this museum you’re in now, we have pieces that are between 10 and 15,000 years old, Native American pieces,” said Butcher. “That’s the history we’ll start with, and then we’ll bring it forward to our history, and then continue on.”