WASHINGTON — Seven years ago, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation making a historic site in Jessamine County the “Camp Nelson National Monument.”

After serving as an Army supply depot, it became a recruitment center for enslaved people and a refugee camp for their families during the Civil War.

“It was an emancipation hub,” said Rep. Andy Barr, R-Lexington. “Over 10,000 African American soldiers enlisted in the Union Army at Camp Nelson. It was basically a large-scale government-sanctioned pathway to freedom for slaves during the Civil War.”

The site includes a visitor center with exhibits, reconstructed Army barracks, walking trails and more.

Barr, who pushed for the site to become a national monument during the first Trump administration, is filing legislation to expand the camp’s boundary. 

“It's an incredible place, and it deserves its place in the national park system as a national monument,” he said. “When we put this together, we didn't have all of the land that was historically significant that represented the entirety of the camp, so this bill authorizes the acquisition of additional parcels, to expand the boundary of the national monument.”

The bill has the support of the local community, he said.

“This is a story that needs to be told about the bravery and the freedom-yearning people of that time, and how they actually achieved their emancipation, how they achieved their freedom,” Barr said. “They did so, not just by the Emancipation Proclamation, but by actually fighting for their freedom, enlisting in the Union Army.”