Isaac Cole
PSU - Cole Family
Isaac Cole is one of two former slaves buried in the cemetery at Mt. Frisby (the Six Penny Colored Church ). Isaac Cole was a veteran of the Civil War, and an American flag now marks his grave. Descendents of Isaac Cole live in a house near the cemetery, and their “garage is the old church building which was an Underground station stop” (Homan 1958, 114).
https://sites.psu.edu/localhistories/woven-with-words/the-underground-railroad-in-the-19th-century/
The Underground Railroad in Berks
Another stop, deep in the woodlands of Fingal’s Castle (now an unrecognizable pile of rocks) were the pond fields of Chestnut Hill. It was in this area that fleeing slaves stayed with the Cole Family before moving on to the “Welsh Mountains,” which then led to the Honey Brook area.
https://berkshistorymysteries.wordpress.com/2018/02/08/the-underground-railroad-in-berks/
WHYY Article (2018)
A lot of those runaway slaves came through Six Penny Creek, a tiny community near Hopewell where furnace workers built homes out in the woods.
“Very thick. Always was,” said John Cole, 77, who has lived here all his life. A natural horticulturalist, Cole spends most of his days walking the woods, tending plants both wild and cultivated. “You gotta have heavy pants, something that stickers won’t go through.”
Cole’s family has owned this land for about 150 years, a legacy of his great-grandfather, Isaac Cole. Isaac — who was black, as is John — was a woodcutter for the Hopewell Furnace from 1858 to 1883. He bought land with his wages. In 1856 he built an African Methodist Episcopalian Church, Mount Frisby, which had a small congregation until the 1880s.
Cole served in the Civil War, enlisting with a Union troop in 1864 when he was 40 years old.
Remains to be seen
The church still stands, albeit with only three walls now. John’s father, George Cole, owned a trucking company in the early 20th century and used the then-dilapidated building as a garage.
The church shades what is now the oldest African-American graveyard in Berks County, hosting about 30 souls. Isaac Cole has a tombstone carved with details of his military service. Most of the other grave markers are raw stones with no names or decorations.
The Mercury Article (2014)
Isaac Cole, a free African American, worked as a laborer at Hopewell Furnace. In the 19th century, Hopewell Furnace offered equal pay for equal work regardless of race or gender. Through his work at Hopewell Furnace, Cole was able to purchase some 100 acres of land which housed several structures including the Mount Frisby AME Church.
Berks County maps from 1860 and 1876 show Isaac Cole as a land owner in the African American community at Six Penny Creek in what is now French Creek State Park. In 1864, Cole volunteered to serve in an infantry regiment of the United States Colored Troops of the United States Army. His regiment saw action at the Battle of Honey Hill, South Carolina, in 1864 and participated in the occupation of Charleston in 1865. Isaac Cole’s grave at the Mt. Frisby Cemetery is marked with a government-issue veteran’s headstone. The Mt. Frisby Church is located on Cole family property and served as a stop on the Underground Railroad.