In 2023, a small one-acre plot of land called Smith Chapel Cemetery was recognized by the National Park Service’s Program, the NATIONAL UNDERGROUND RAILROAD NETWORK TO FREEDOM, due to the resilience and courage of three enslaved men who were seeking their freedom using the Underground Railroad. In the winter of 1864, at the height of…

On Cottleville’s Chestnut Street sits a large two-and-one-half story frame building that once served its’ Methodist Episcopal South congregation. By 1810, John Pitman, a veteran of the Revolutionary War had come to Missouri from Kentucky, settling just to the south of the Cottle family. Portions of his huge estate would provide two additions to the…