Depp Settlement est 1835 Lucy Depp Park est 1926 America's Underground Railroad! Freed slave Abram Depp, his 70 year old Mother, Lucinda, and his children were released from the oppression of slavery in Powhatan County, Virginia and chose to purchase Virginia Military Land Grant land from the family of Lucas Sullivant. In 1835, they arrived in Ohio to establish the Depp Settlement. With an active faith community, school - it became a whole way of life together. The Depp Family owned more than 1500 acres in Delaware, Franklin and Union Counties - including today's Lucy Depp Park, Shawnee Hills, parts of Muirfield and Jerome et al. In 1856, Mother Lucinda was the first buried in the historic settlement here. Today, Aurelius' (son of Abram Depp and Mary Goode) tombstone is the only one left standing. He and his brother, John Depp were, Civil War Veteran in the Ohio Colored Troops. As the generations passed, Descendent Robert and Nan Goode living in the last standing Depp house in the Settlement, decided to start an active real estate social enterprise for community preservation. Robert's second wife, Nan, continued the social enterprise legacy. They developed Lucy Depp Park as an official housing subdivision and marketed throughout Central Ohio. The area designated by descendants in historical documentation as the 4 acre "Community Center" of the subdivision is now called SharedSpace Lucy Depp Park. After Goode's owned it - Rev Dr Bill Williams (worked for Ohio Dept of Education and pastored small black Baptist congregations itinerantly on weekends) and Irene Williams (Columbus City Schools Social Worker) owned the property for approx. 30 years. Through an introduction by Lucy Depp Park resident, Cleona McDaniel - Gary Stetler (33 year high school physics, chemistry teacher and 30 year football year football coach) and gwyn stetler (Methodist Theological School grad, Director of Project Women Alive, YWCA Interfaith Hospitality Network and Community Life @ Homeport and a minister of congregational and community care @ Trinity United Methodist et al, a non-profit leader & community-builder) purchased the homeplace in 1996 and moved here with sons, Brad and Ben. With the legacy of Underground Railroad hospitality in this place, Stetlers officially named the center of community-building: "SharedSpace Lucy Depp Park" and have strived as active officers in the Community's Lucy Depp Civic Association with descendants and partners to keep the legacy alive. Support from their parents - all farmers, the late Maryann and Lowell Stetler & Ruthann and Eldon Eichenauer and many others, made this possible. - In the Spirit of Love, we are committed to sustainable historical preservation, transformation, education and beloved community-building from a human rights standpoint - seeking a compassionate justice for all. In June of 2016 Gwyn and Gary Stetler , after 20 years of stewardship to the homestead of Lucy Depp Park, sold the property to Ron and Dawn Bookmyer. Ron is a government teacher for over 25years, currently in Dublin schools, and Dawn is a veterinarian in Shawnee Hills.
