Story and Video: Underground Railroad Experience exhibits open at newly renovated Black Horse Inn
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MORRISTOWN -- After many months of restoration work and years of planning, what is believed to have been part of the Underground Railroad now hosts a museum educating the public on this exact network.
The historic Black Horse Inn opened to the public in Morristown on Friday, featuring the new Underground Railroad Experience exhibit. The inn, which was built in 1807, is one of the last remaining inns and taverns along the historic National Road. Historians believe it was part of the Underground Railroad.
A ribbon cutting ceremony was held at the inn that included speeches from several local and state dignitaries including John Mattox Jr., whose late parents John and Rosalind Mattox Sr., founded the Underground Railroad Museum in nearby Flushing.
Mattox said the museum in Flushing, for now, is closed, but many of its exhibits are now on display at the Black Horse Inn.
“A full circle moment has happened,” Mattox said before the event’s start. “A lot of people have supported us. … We are now at a point that we have taken the story, the collection my parents started and carried it to a new level.”
Partners in renovating the inn have included the Morristown Historic Preservation Association, the Ohio Department of Development, Belmont County Tourism, COSI of Columbus, OMEGA and more.
“We’re looking forward to people coming here and checking this out. It’s truly a pinnacle of an experience for this area,” Mattox said. “My father talked a lot about how life is the ultimate experience. When you think about how he put together his community involvement and how he fostered community, what we’re seeing today is a full-circle moment where community from different towns, different villages, we’ve all come together. We’ve made something completely amazing and this is the result of it.”
Mattox said he will likely focus on fundraising in the future for the original museum building.
“For right now, we’re just happy our collection is just being hosted in this wonderful facility at the Black Horse Inn in Morristown,” he said.
He noted COSI of Columbus developed many of the exhibit spaces inside the inn.
“It is a world-class museum now,” he added. “We’re excited to host it in this location for as long as it makes sense, I would be for it.”
Mattox believes his late parents and other pillars of the community would be happy to see the progress made.
“It happened because of a lot of passionate individuals,” he said. “My parents would be ecstatic to see what has happened today. Because it wasn’t done with anyone person’s effort, so many people had to come together to make it happen.”
During the ceremony, remarks were also made by John Rataiczak, president of the Morristown Historic Preservation Association; Jackee Pugh, executive director of Belmont County Tourism; Belmont County Commissioner JP Dutton; John Hemmings, Ross County Appalachian Community Grant Program consultant; Larry Merry, executive director of the Belmont County Port Authority; Pamela McCort of the Morristown Historic Preservation Association; Taylor Tomu, manager of community outreach and engagement of the America 250 Ohio Commission; Ohio Sen. Brian Chavez; Ohio Rep. Ty Moore; and John Carey, director of the Ohio Governor’s Office of Appalachia.
Olney Friends School students performed cultural dances during the ceremony.
The Underground Railroad Museum received $3.9 million grant through the Ohio Appalachian Community Grant Program in 2024 for the project of moving the museum into the Black Horse Inn, 320 Main St., Morristown.