Photo Provided Dr. Wayne Butler and his wife, Annette, will open both their cottage, circa 1930, and their picturesque gardens for Mount Pleasant’s Aug. 3-4 home, garden and historic buildings tour.

MOUNT PLEASANT — The Historical Society of Mount Pleasant will “Celebrate America’s History” during its annual tour of properties associated with the 19th century anti-slavery movement on Aug. 3-4.

Featured on the tour are 11 historic sites: The Quaker Yearly Meeting House State Memorial, circa 1814; Harris-Bone Log Cabin, circa1804; the Butler Cottage and Gardens (private home), circa1830; the Elizabeth House Mansion Museum, circa1835; Tin Shop, circa 1840; Samuel Gill House, circa 1846; Historical Center, circa 1856; the Mt. Pleasant Friends Church, circa 1856; John H. Mercer/Bracken House (private home), circa 1850,1884; Burriss Fairlawn General Store, circa 1895; and the Irish Ridge Farm, circa 1800s.

A must see on the tour, according to a release, is the Irish Ridge Farm, located half a mile south of Mt. Pleasant at 621 Township Road 100, making it a convenient home spot for tour patrons. Time has been turned back to the 1800s when this was once the farm of Isaac Thomas. Today Irish Ridge Farm is the home of Bruce and Beverly Riddle and their herd of 100 registered black Angus cattle.

Experience first-hand what life is like on an Ohio working beef farm as you stroll through the 1849 post and pin bank barn, flower beds, rain gardens, barns and a collection of more than 50 antique tractors.

Another historic preservation site on the farm is an 1835 small sugar house with a stone-built maple sugar arch. Visitors can easily imagine the sugar house being filled with steam and the smell of maple syrup. Also on site, visit the drover’s encampment and look at the lives of some of the early drovers who traveled through the area and indulge your taste buds with flavors cooked on site by Plain Jane’s Foods and Ohio Valley Chuck Wagon.

This year’s tour runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Aug. 3 and 1-5 p.m. Aug. 4. Visitors should allow at least two and a half to three hours to complete the tour. The historical society’s American Patriotic Uniform Collection is set up at the Burriss Fairlawn General Store in center town. Stop by the gift shop in the Elizabeth House Mansion Museum for souvenirs and one-of-a-kind pottery pieces. Also, enjoy color and artwork as “Paige’s Pieces” handmade quilted and fabric items are displayed and sold in the 1830-1840 living quarters of the Harris-Bone Store.

Homemade lunches including desserts and beverages will be served both days in the comfort of the Samuel Gill House Tea Room. This home is claimed to be the site of the Union Humane Society, an anti-slavery association first organized in 1815 by Benjamin Lundy in St. Clairsville. Lunch and Gill House tours are provided by the Women’s Missionary Fellowship of the Mt. Pleasant Friends Church.

Mount Pleasant, located in Jefferson County, has been designated as a National Historic Landmark District due to its ancestors’ contributions and involvement in the Underground Railroad. Quakers very early denounced the evils of slavery, and these Friends along with the Presbyterian, Methodist and the African Methodist Episcopal churches thus established Mount Pleasant as a center for anti-slavery activity even before the Civil War. As early as 1817, freedom seekers struck out for Mount Pleasant, where they were kindly received and aided on their way north to Canada. Still standing on Union Street are four Underground Railroad stations. America’s first anti-slavery newspaper, the Philanthropist, was written in this quaint village. One of its writers was Benjamin Lundy, who is referred to as the “Father of Abolitionism.” A more unusual activity was the establishment of the Free Labor Store, where nothing raised or made by slave labor was bought or sold. The Mt. Pleasant Free Labor Store is the only one left in existence. It is owned by Ohio History Connection and is currently under renovation. The activities of Mount Pleasant citizens and others like them formed an interesting and significant chapter in the history of America and the quest for freedom.

Tour tickets will be sold at three locations: the Elizabeth House Mansion Museum, 438 Union Street; the Burriss Fairlawn Store, 311 Union Street; and the Irish Ridge Farm at 621 Township Road 100. Patrons will receive a tour map. Children age 12 and under are admitted for free with a paying adult. All proceeds benefit the Historical Society of Mount Pleasant, Ohio, a volunteer, nonprofit group established in 1948. Tour updates can be found on FaceBook under “Friends of Historic Mt. Pleasant, Ohio.”