Ripley Heritage proudly sponsors Reverend John Rankin and his wife Jean. A Presbyterian minister and ardent abolitionist, Rev. Rankin, his wife Jean, and their thirteen children aided approximately 2000 fugitive slaves escaping on the Underground Railroad. Rev. Rankin claimed he “never lost a passenger” while working as a Ripley Ohio conductor. The Rankins kept a light burning at night in a window of their brick hilltop home. That light served as a beacon, or guide, to fugitive slaves escaping out of Kentucky. An author of several books, Rev. Rankin’s Letters on Slavery came to be regarded as a textbook for abolitionists.
Portraying Reverend Rankin are Don (Zip) and June Zipperian. The Zipperians are retired educators and active in the Ripley Ohio preservation movement. Their Front Street home has been a tour point in past Ripley Heritage Inc. Christmas tours.