The Robinson’s of Dry Ridge

The Robinsons of Dry Ridge: History of a Black Family and Post-Civil War Community in Clark County, Kentucky
by Harry Enoch, Lyndon Comstock, Bobbie Newell

Moses Robinson obtained freedom for himself and his enslaved family before the Civil War. Determined to give his children a place of their own to live, he left a will directing his executor to purchase farms for each of them. These farms became the black community of Dry Ridge in eastern Clark County, Kentucky. Here the Robinson children, their descendants and neighbors managed to carve out an existence and, in a sense, to partake of the “good life” they associated with freedom. Today, two cemeteries, the rough foundation of a school, and a few old house sites are the starting point for preservation of this historic settlement. This work provides a family history beginning with Moses Robinson and including five generations of his descendants. It also tells the story of the Dry Ridge community, the people and the land, from 1863 to the present.