Driving Tour

By Dorris Keeven-Franke. On Sunday, May 18, 2025 I was honored to present the St. Charles Civil War Roundtable’s local driving tour of AFRICAN AMERICAN CIVIL WAR SITES IN ST. CHARLES COUNTY

We began at the home of Absalom White (St. Charles), an free black that was lynched because he was aiding in the Underground Railroad and Sage Chapel Cemetery (O’Fallon) begun by the enslaved of Samuel Kiethly, placed on the National Register of Historic Places (by myself) in 2018. We also visited the Alexander/Campbell House on Hwy N/Boone’s Lick Road in City of Dardenne Prairie, MO which was built by the enslaved Archer Alexander in 1835. Then we proceeded to the site of Fort Peruque in Lake St. Louis, which was the site of a Contraband Camp where several freedom seekers joined the U.S. Colored Troops. We ended at the Historic Smith Chapel Cemetery which is listed on the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. These sites are all private property and unmarked leaving them hidden in plain site! If you would like more information or have information please Contact me.