By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
A movie about the Underground Railroad is being filmed at several Boone County locations, including, Rabbit Hash, Petersburg and the historic Dinsmore Homestead .
The film, “ALL OR NOTHIN,” is being completed by filmmaker Charles K. Campbell and a group of graduate students from Central Michigan University who are in Boone County this week to shoot scenes.
Marty McDonald, executive director of the Dinsmore Homestead, said it is very rewarding that the site was chosen for filming because a primary goal of the organization is to persevere the historical accuracy of the property.
“The Dinsmore family lived here from 1842 to 1926, so the fact that this movie covers the Civil War era makes the site a good fit,” McDonald said. “It also provides an opportunity for people in this area to learn more about that period in our history.”
Actors shoot a scene for the movie “ALL OR NOTHIN'” at the historic Dinsmore Homestead
The Dinsmore Homestead Foundation purchased the home in 1988 and operates it today. The goal of the foundation is to maintain and preserve the site and provide a window into an important period in the country’s history.
In 1839, James Dinsmore purchased approximately 700 acres in Boone County, and built a home there that was completed in 1842.
Nearly all of the buildings at the Dinsmore Homestead, including a carriage house with carriages, a log cabin, a smoke house and a horse barn remain on the property. The original family home and its contents also remain largely intact.
A cemetery, which includes enslaved people as well as members of the Dinsmore family, is located at the top of a hill on the site.
“ALL OR NOTHIN’” recounts the journey of 28 enslaved Americans from Boone County who traveled to four states and two countries in search of freedom. Scenes are also being shot in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.
Rick Glaz, a Civil War researcher from Michigan, who is the movie’s prop man, stunt coordinator and historian, said Dinsmore provides the perfect setting for many of the scenes.
“To find original sites that can be directly linked to history is important not only to a project like this, but to the public in general,” Glaz said. “When I discuss and teach history to students, I tell them history needs to be touched. To teach history in school and have a chapter that covers 100 years is almost meaningless to a student, so when I go to a classroom I bring actual artifacts.”
Don Clare, a Rabbit Hash resident and Boone County historian said the film will offer a great glimpse into the importance of the region during the time of the Underground Railroad.
Boone County historian Don Clare of Rabbit Hash said the movie will provide a glimpse into the county’s history during the time of the Underground Railroad.
“There are 35 river miles of Boone County that go to either Ohio, or the Indiana territory, which were both “free” at that time,” Clare said. “Before the dams came down, sometimes you could wade across the river, so this area was significant.”
Glaz, who has been an historic re-enactor for 40 years and is a member of the board of the Michigan Antique Arms Collectors, provided historically accurate weapons for the production.
“I am also written in as an extra, so I do a little bit of everything,” Glaz said.
McDonald said the success of the movie is secondary to the important story it tells.
“It’s really exciting and the people here are really committed to what they are doing,” McDonald said. “It’s also drawing attention to Dinsmore in a historic way, and Petersburg and Rabbit Hash as well. Even though we were not part of the Underground Railroad, anything that brings in this kind of recognition is great for all of us.”
Glaz said the United States is “slowly losing our history” because sites such as Dinsmore are being replaced, primarily because of the expense associated with preserving them.
“Being associated with the history, I see so many minor Civil War battlefields being turned into box store parking lots, because they are not well visited,” Glaz said. “The historic homes that can no longer be preserved because of the cost are also being lost. I belong to many organizations that collect a few dollars for each member and that doesn’t go very far in preserving a site like this.”
A synopsis of the film, provided by filmmaker Charles K. Campbell, is included below.
The feature film, ALL OR NOTHIN’ offers a rare glimpse of the Underground Railroad. Contrary to what is often portrayed in American history, ALL OR NOTHIN’ challenges the accepted view that whites were leaders and saviors, and blacks their helpless nameless benefactors, when in fact they often worked together.
Historians, librarians, and educators who have researched this event and similar escapes of the era have provided undeniable evidence that free and enslaved blacks, as well as white men and women were integral to the success of the Underground Railroad. ALL OR NOTHIN’ is a dramatization of their partnership to assist freedom seekers escape bondage.
In the decades preceding the Civil War, tens of thousands of African-Americans were determined to cross Canadian borders to obtain their freedom at all cost. Whether traveling singly or in groups the risks were high. Either they would succeed or they wouldn’t and all were ready to die in the attempt. Their journey required nerves of steel and unwavering faith, thus, ALL OR NOTHIN’.
This film is just one story among many from an iconic era, which some Americans for years fought to preserve while others made every attempt to bury.
ALL OR NOTHIN’ dramatizes the journey of 28 enslaved Americans from Boone County, Petersburg, Kentucky through 4 states and 2 countries.
Enter the world of Michigan conductor Asher Aray from Washtenaw County. An abolitionist of mixed heritage who narrates the story of a secret society of friends differing in ethnicity, gender, and faith. This organization was known across the United States as the Underground Railroad.
Asher and cohorts risked welfare of family to assist determined men and women who willingly risked their lives to obtain basic human rights, dignity, and a chance to live free.
ALL OR NOTHIN’ re-creates, from available information, a route these 28 brave souls could have taken through Boone County, Kentucky, across the dangerous Ohio River, into Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and across the Detroit River into Ontario, Canada where they were greeted with jubilation from black and white supporters.
Just as the Underground Railroad was a collaboration of daring individuals, so is the making of ALL OR NOTHIN’. In this epic drama, filmmaker Charles K Campbell collaborates with historians, educators, students, business and community leaders, clergy and artists to bring a true American story of heroism to the big screen. ALL OR NOTHIN’ is authentic, raw, and uncut. ALL OR NOTHIN’ is not for purposes of sensationalism or sheer profit, but rather to recount history with available facts that unifies the races rather than divides.
NKyTribune managing editor Mark Hansel can be contacted at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com
