Ohio’s Hill Country Heritage Area and Heritage Ohio held their 10th Annual Appalachia Heritage Luncheon on Wednesday, December 8th at the Ohio Statehouse. During the ceremony, awards and recognition were given to nine organizations for their outstanding leadership and contributions toward the protection, preservation, and appropriate development of heritage, culture, and sense of place in the Ohio Hill Country.
The David Nickens Heritage Center was one of the honorees and received an award for their contribution on preserving local and national African American heritage and culture. Director Beverly Gray accepted the award and was introduced and accompanied on stage by Ohio Senator Bob Peterson.
The David Nickens Heritage Center is named after Rev. David Leroy Nickens, a freed slave that was born in Virginia who later became the first African American licensed minister in Ohio in 1824. Nickens helped found the First Regular African Baptist Church of Christ in Chillicothe later to be known as the First Baptist Church.
The David Nickens Heritage Center offers several permanent exhibits that include “Freedom’s Journey: The Underground Railroad,” “The Black Church in American,” and “African American Women in the Nineteenth Century.”
“Beverly Gray is deserving of the Appalachia Heritage success story award,” stated Melody Young, Executive Director of the Ross-Chillicothe Convention & Visitors Bureau. “She has spent many years developing the David Nickens Heritage Center and can truly bring the exhibits to life for visitors to understand the struggles and the successes.”
Free tours of the David Nickens Heritage Center are available by appointment. The center is located at 71 West Fourth Street in downtown Chillicothe. More information about the site can be found on the First Baptist Church’s website or by visiting the Bureau’s website.
Beverly Gray, Director of Chillicothe's African-American museum, the David Nickens Heritage Center, with Ohio Senator Bob Peterson. (Ross-Chillicothe Convention & Visitors Bureau)