Anderson High School students Reid Bhate, Sydney Steinau, and Gracie Adams visited Ripley over the 2022 holiday season to film a documentary on Ripley’s history. Photo provided by Greg Haitz
Over the 2022 holiday season, a group of Anderson High School students came to Ripley to make a documentary on the history of the village. They interviewed Betty Campbell, President of Ripley Heritage; Ann Hagedorn, local author and writer of “Beyond the River: The Untold Story of the Underground Railroad”; and Greg Haitz, regional history teacher and writer. The three Anderson students were, Reid Bhate, Sydney Steinau, and Gracie Adams.
Gracie Adams was the point of contact from the students’ side, and she has personal connections to Ripley.
“In Ripley, I’m better known as Carol Coopers granddaughter or John Coopers niece,” she explained. “I go to Anderson High School where I am in a film class, and right now we’re making documentaries. I’m a sophomore at Anderson High School where I’m in my second year of the school’s film class. My friends are Reid Bhate and Sydney Steinau, who are both seniors at Anderson, in their fourth year of film, and looking to go to college for film making. At the moment our class is doing projects where we make documentaries, and because I love the history of Ripley, and am proud to say that Ripley is my hometown, I thought it would be the perfect place to make a documentary. So, I took my friends to Ripley where we interviewed, Ann Hagedorn, Betty Campbell, and Greg Haitz. I also showed them around while getting shots and b-roll. (A b-roll is supplemental or alternative footage intercut with the main shot.) I think they enjoyed it, especially being on the river and the view from the Rankin House. It will probably take us a few months to edit everything since we got so much footage, but it’s on its way and we’ll hopefully have it together soon.”
The students had some well thought out questions about John Rankin, John Parker, and the Underground Railroad. They also asked what makes Ripley a special place. Some of what the students heard about was James Poage founded Ripley in 1804 and named the town after his hometown of Staunton, VA. The town was incorporated in 1812 and renamed for Colonel Ripley in 1816 after a battle in the War of 1812. They also heard about how slavery was illegal in the Northwest Territory which is why John Rankin and later John Parker moved to Ripley.
Anderson High School located just off Beechmont Avenue at 7560 Forest Rd, Cincinnati, is “a comprehensive college preparatory high school, provides students with a wide variety of opportunities including Honors and Advanced Placement courses, specialized career programs, and cooperative education programs.” Anderson High School is located off of Beechmont Avenue at 7560 Forest Rd, Cincinnati.