Our Story
The History of Berea
Founded on radical ideals of equality and education, Berea's story is unlike any other town in the South.
1850s
An Abolitionist Beginning
Abolitionist minister John G. Fee founds a church, school, and community on a ridge in Madison County, on land provided by emancipationist Cassius Marcellus Clay. Fee names the settlement Berea, after the biblical town whose people 'received the word with all readiness of mind.'
1855
A School Opens
Fee's one-room district school grows into Berea College — founded as the first interracial and coeducational college in the South, radical ideas in antebellum Kentucky.
1859
Exile
In the tense months after John Brown's raid, armed pro-slavery mobs force Fee and his followers to flee Kentucky. They return after the Civil War and rebuild the school and community.
1890
A City Is Born
Berea officially incorporates as a city. In the same era, the college launches its 'Fireside Industries,' encouraging Appalachian families to weave and craft for income — planting the seed of Berea's craft economy.
1904
The Day Law
Kentucky's Day Law forces Berea College to segregate, ending half a century of interracial education. The college responds by helping found the Lincoln Institute near Louisville for Black students, and reintegrates in 1950 as soon as the law allows.
1909
Boone Tavern Opens
The college opens the Boone Tavern Hotel on College Square to host campus visitors. Staffed partly by students, it becomes Berea's most famous landmark — and the home of its signature spoonbread.
1988
Craft Capital
The Kentucky legislature designates Berea the Folk Arts and Crafts Capital of Kentucky, recognizing a century of working craft tradition. The state later opens the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea in 2003.
Today
A Working Craft Town
Berea is home to roughly 16,000 people, a tuition-free college, working artisan studios, trail-laced forests, and festivals that draw visitors from across the country.