“If you’re wondering who your people are, they’re the ones who make your heart feel seen and your nervous system feel calm. Yes, it is that simple.” ~ Unknown
lighting the way
At last, I’ve finished the photographs I took at this past Monday’s special event. September was International Underground Railroad Month, and to mark the occasion, a tribute focused on Lewis and Harriet Hayden’s escape to freedom. From the Notable Kentucky African Americans database, “Lewis desired to be free. He would not leave, however, without his second wife Harriet and her son Joseph, whom Lewis accepted as his own. Together they left on a rainy Saturday evening, September 28, 1844, riding in a hack, disguised as ‘Yankee travelers,’ with Delia Webster and Calvin Fairbanks. They followed Mulberry Street (it would not be named Limestone until 1887) out of Lexington, where it became the Maysville Road.” On Monday evening, September 28, 2026, nine volunteers picked up 100+ paper luminaries. The group split into two teams, each with a wagon of bags, and quietly placed a single bag every few dozen feet along Limestone (Mulberry) Street from Main to Loundon Avenue, marking the route the Haydens took out of Lexington to escape to freedom. The groups worked their way to the center of the route marked by the Hayden monument on Limestone and Fourth, which you might recall was unveiled in 2025. No one beyond the volunteers and a few others really knew what was happening, and that was by design. Much as the Haydens quietly rode out of Lexington, the luminaries were temporarily placed in similar silence. To me, it was a brilliant statement on the power of working quietly for the greater good. Some of us are destined to be mouthpieces for whatever causes stir the soul, from freedom and civil liberties to LGBTQ and voting rights. They speak out in the media and seem to be in a constant spotlight (think Gloria Steinem, Harvey Milk, Rev. Martin Luther King). But most of us who want to make a difference do so quietly, working out of the spotlight’s gaze. Yet, it takes all of these efforts together to turn the tide of inequality and create a more just world. The Haydens played their part, just as the volunteers on Monday played ours. I was, and am, deeply honored to document such strength and conviction, and I hope my contribution helps in some small way.
honoring the trail
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