The Welton/Scruggs Grove

The Welton/Scruggs Grove

NPS Photo/Daniel Cox

Settler Lewis Welton held the first Emancipation Day Celebration at Nicodemus on August 1, 1878, at his 160-acre homestead. It attracted hundreds who came to celebrate freedom.The annual Celebration became a popular event, attracting thousands from nearby settlements and towns. Wagons, buggies, and later automobiles lined adjacent roads for three miles in each direction. Food stands barbecue, lemonade, fried chicken, desserts, and more. Organizers added two dance platforms, one for black people and one for white people. Attendees listened to political spiels, watched horse races, gambled, and danced to local bands. Children rode the Ferris Wheel and merry-go-round. A representative from the famous Kinsley, Kansas, Brodbeck Carnival Company referred to the Nicodemus Celebration, saying, “You haven’t been to a carnival until you went to Nicodemus.” Descendant Orlo Van Duvall commented,” Las Vegas didn’t have nothing on them.”R.B. Scruggs later purchased the Welton property and planted cottonwoods alongside walnut trees, creating what locals referred to as the Grand Arbor. The location of the celebration was then changed to the Scruggs Grove. Beginning in the early 1930s, the Celebration transitioned to the townsite and the new township hall. In 1951, descendants celebrated for the last time in Scruggs Grove.Organizers eventually changed the name from Emancipation Day to Emancipation/Homecoming Celebration, which is still used today. The celebration now occurs the last weekend in July nearest to August 1^st. In 2020, due to the Covid pandemic, planners hosted the first virtual Emancipation/Homecoming Celebration.In 1983, Mary Elizabeth Gage spoke for all descendants, saying, “Something we looked forward to from one year to the next. I think we were as anxious about the Emancipation Celebration affair…as we were about Christmas.”