Augustus West, an African American born in Madison County, Virginia, on March 20, 1814, moved to Ohio in 1837. Legend holds that he was a runaway slave who worked as a farm laborer before devising a scheme to buy his own farm. With abolitionist Alexander Beatty, West traveled into slave territory at least three times; the pair would sell West, help him escape, and divide the profits. West used his share to buy 177 acres in Fayette County, where he built his "mansion" as far from the main road as possible to remain inconspicuous and secure. Access to it came by a road later called "Abolition Lane," along which other black and white abolitionists owned homes and took part in the Underground Railroad. After the Civil War, West provided newly emancipated slaves a place to live, and cabins built on his farm near the "mansion" formed the first free standing African American community in Fayette County. Farther down the road, local residents built a schoolhouse on a hilltop. As of 2003, "Abolition Lane" was little more than a gravel path and the West "mansion" had aged beyond repair.