'The Civil War started here' | Inside the tunnels that connect Glendale to the Underground Railroad

GLENDALE, Ohio — It’s dark, and Megan Johnson ducks her head into the basement.

“Watch your step,” Johnson said. “It’s really low here.”

She’s been here before. And even though she’s talking about the past, she can’t help but think about the future.

“It’s just a lot of emotion,” Johnson said. “It’s powerful.”

See inside the Ohio tunnels that were part of the Underground Railroad

Outside, Johnson flips through documents her grandparents collected over the years. They tie her ancestry to abolitionist Jon Van Zandt . Van Zandt owned enslaved people in Kentucky, but then moved to Ohio — to this property in Glendale — and set them free.

In 1842, he was arrested. His case, which ultimately challenged the legality of slavery, went all the way to the Supreme Court. He lost, and he eventual