Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Berea, KY

Berea is an incorporated home rule-class city in southern Madison County, where Kentucky's Bluegrass region meets the foothills of Appalachia.

Berea is the principal city of the Richmond-Berea micropolitan area, which covers Madison and Rockcastle counties.

The 2020 census counted 15,539 residents in Berea, up from 13,561 in 2010, making it one of Kentucky's fastest-growing cities.

Berea grew up around a school and Union Church founded in the 1850s in an area called The Glade by abolitionist minister John G. Fee and his wife Matilda.

The city of Berea was formally incorporated by the Kentucky state assembly in 1890.

Berea is home to Berea College, a private liberal arts college founded in 1855 that was the first interracial and coeducational college in the South.

Berea College charges no tuition: every student receives a Tuition Promise Scholarship and works at least 10 hours a week in a campus job, making Berea one of the nation's federally recognized work colleges serving low-income students, primarily from Appalachia.

Kentucky's 1904 Day Law forced Berea College to segregate, ending its interracial era until the law was amended in 1950 and the college reintegrated.

The college's Boone Tavern Hotel, Fireside Weaving operation, and Log House craft gallery anchored Berea's famous Appalachian arts and crafts tradition, built on student-made handcrafts.

Berea was the site of the first Appalachian Museum and the first academic Appalachian Center, and it is the birthplace of the Appalachian Studies Association.