Some communities simply don’t have a Main Street or at least not a traditional one, but they have important stories to tell. Pleasant Ridge, Wisconsin (near present-day Beetown) is one of them.
In 1848, Charles and Caroline Shepard, their three children Harriet, John and Mary, his brother, and Sarah Brown, who had not yet been freed (her freedom and that of her two children were later purchased for $1000), came to Southwestern Wisconsin and began farming. The Shepards were the freed slaves of a Virginia planter, who moved his own family and the Shepards north and they formed Pleasant Ridge. Over the next several years, more freed and escaped slaves made Pleasant Ridge their home.
Richmond was recorded by Helene Stratman Thomas in 1946 as part of the Wisconsin Folk Music Recording Project. Hear Lily Richmond singing (you should definintely listen, it’s truly remarkable). Image and recording from University of Wisconsin Digital Collections.
