Community Sign for Historic Community

The purpose of this GoFund me is for a community welcome sign. "Welcome to Historic Farristown" this welcome sign will be posted in a green space before you enter the community. Right now our total budget is $6000. The City will match us $1500 and we have already received a generous $3000 donation. We do plan on having fundraising events, tshirt sales, etc as I want us as community to also put in the work to attain these funds......Update 10/18/2022 Im happy to announce that we have reached our $1500 initial goal thru fundraising. The rest of the funds raised will be used for the signage but any left over will also go towards Farristown Cemetery Clean up (Preservation).

Anything left over from the Cemetery will go towards a future community event that we are looking to plan in the Spring or Summer.

The average resident of Berea is still unaware of Berea's deep history of black history and Interracial Unity or at least its rarley spoken about."Farristown" is the last black hamlet with the only living descendants of the original families still in the community ". Thru my final years in the Navy I wanted to preserve the community and its historical significance because I saw there was little info . Once I retired from the Navy and moved back to Ky I went to work. But before I had gotten a chance to start on my project. The City's growth and industrilization had made plans to develop into Farristown like the other communities that preceded. Nothing wrong with the potential of more jobs..But with that comes potential factories that could serve as an environmental hazard and heavy traffic that would congest our narrow roads, folks in the community feared possible imminent domain that are ancestors worked so hard for. So back in April of 2022 myself and the residents went to City Hall and spoke up. Not only about the threat of industrial development but also our historical preservation that not only belongs to the community but the whole City of Berea. On a very positive note The Mayor and and City Council was very receptive. I've been working with the Mayor on ways to restore Farristown and her historical significance. I just received a grant from the States Historical Society to conduct Oral History with families to navigate our story. The City is looking to better develop the area to accomodate the residents and preserve its history, even a 3 acre park dedicated to Farristown. So we're making progress! We beleive the sign will get things started and making folks more aware of what we are doing in our community. All proceeds will go towards this sign, or anything left over would be re-invested in the community. But I also wanted to put a feeler out there and make more folks aware because this just not happening in Farristown but other historically black communities (white ones too) around the country. If you like more info I've added a couple links by our local press that discusses more. And if not a donation, a prayer would be just as beneficial. Alot of this wont be overnight. On behalf of our small community we Thank you! https://www.nolangroupmedia.com/berea_citizen/council-to-hear-more-on-farristown-zoning/article_783f9774-d6d6-11ec-b8c8-e3f11ffd7397.html https://cityofbereaky.wordpress.com/2022/06/10/farristown-zoning-starts-discussion-on-policy/