Where Can I Visit Or Tour Underground Railroad? (TOP 5 Tips)

A Journey to Freedom, the Underground Railroad in PA

• Indiana County Underground Railroad Driving Tour.
• Blairsville Underground Railroad History Center.
• Kennett Square Underground Railroad Center.
• LeMoyne House.
• Stoltzfus Bed Breakfast.
• Christiana Underground Railroad Center.
• Pheasant Field Bed and Breakfast.

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How many sites are on the Underground Railroad tour?

• Meet in the parking lot for a brief tour introduction. This walking tour takes in 12 sites and stories of Underground Railroad and African American Heritage. All within a three-block area of the Downtown area of the Historic City of Lancaster.

Can you take a tour of the Underground Railroad?

Schedule Your Visit Our adjusted hours of operations are Tuesday through Sunday from 10am to 4pm (EST). Learn more about what you can see and do at the visitor center, and explore the stories of Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad!

Where can I go to see the Underground Railroad?

Museums

• Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.
• Frederick Douglass National Historic Site.
• John Freeman Walls Historic Site and Underground Railroad Museum.
• John P.
• John Rankin House.
• National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
• Niagara University Castellani Art Museum.
• www.castellaniartmuseum.org/

How much does it cost to go to the Underground Railroad?

You’ll find the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center located on Freedom Way near the Great American Ball Park. The center is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Adult admission costs $12; tickets for children ages 3 to 12 are $8; and entry for seniors is $10.

Which state has the most underground railroads?

Although there were Underground Railroad networks throughout the country, even in the South, Ohio had the most active network of any other state with around 3000 miles of routes used by escaping runaways.

How old would Harriet Tubman be today?

Harriet Tubman’s exact age would be 201 years 10 months 28 days old if alive. Total 73,747 days. Harriet Tubman was a social life and political activist known for her difficult life and plenty of work directed on promoting the ideas of slavery abolishment.

Is the Underground Railroad open to the public?

The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10am to 4pm (EST). The Visitor Center will close on Christmas Day.

How much is the Harriet Tubman Museum?

Admission to the Museum is by timed entry on the hour, $10 for adults, $5 for children 10 and under, plus applicable ticket processing fees. To ensure that we are providing a safe environment for our community, face masks are required for all visitors and staff age 2 and above, regardless of vaccination status.

Is Harriet Tubman museum open?

The museum is usually open Tuesday through Friday, 12-3pm, and Saturday, 12-4pm. There is no admission fee but donations are welcome.

How much is tickets to the Freedom Center?

Located just outside Philadelphia, Bucks County is home to a number of significant sites that were part of the Underground Railroad. Towns like Yardley, Bristol, New Hope and Doylestown feature churches, farms, taverns and more where enslaved people were aided in their journey north.

Who was Jacob Burkle?

According to the museum’s extensive research, Burkle was an abolitionist sympathizer and member of the historic Underground Railroad. In the late 1840s, Burkle fled Germany and conscription into the army to avoid fighting in a series of revolutionary wars he saw as unjust and oppressive.

Were there tunnels in the Underground Railroad?

Contrary to popular belief, the Underground Railroad was not a series of underground tunnels. While some people did have secret rooms in their houses or carriages, the vast majority of the Underground Railroad involved people secretly helping people running away from slavery however they could.

How far north did the Underground Railroad go?

Because it was dangerous to be in free states like Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, or even Massachusetts after 1850, most people hoping to escape traveled all the way to Canada. So, you could say that the Underground Railroad went from the American south to Canada.

MOTHERLAND CONNEXTIONS by GuestServe Inc.

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We customized and Package all group tours via. Lodging: single/dbl./Quad.Customized Itineraries: 4 – 8 hrs. General Sites of Interest Meals – Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner Regions (U.S./Canada) Power Pt. Presentations/1-person vignette for dinners Specific Family Reunion requestAVAILABLE ADDITIONAL REGIONAL HISTORIC SITES:FrenchIndian War Erie Canal War of 1812 Additional Underground Railroad Regions History of Hydro-Power Niagara Movement 1905 Pan-American Exposition Area Architecture Woman’s SuffrageOther U.S. State w/UGRR Sites Canadian Provinces w/UGRR Sites _STEP-ON SERVICESSTEP-ON: Client provides the transportation needed. Our Guide boards bus and conducts tour of the specified region.Step-On Services apply for.Family Re-unionsWhole-Sale Operators School GroupsNot-for-profits.Current 2019 Step-on rates.$580.00 for 4-hrs. minimum for groups of 47 or more persons.$145 ea. additional hour – not inclusive of admissionsWe also package with other general sites of interest and attractions in both the UnitedCanada _Group Outbound Services Avail. Upon Request (See Example below)Detroit/Windsor3 Days -2 NightsIt is back -and even better. This one is special -it was our first outbound. We are sure you heard about the first trip. Visit an area of the Northeast Great Lakes Region where fugitives made their way to freedom. See the Windy City from the eyes of a 19th century fugitive. Cross the Detroit River en-route to freedom -hear the tales and see original sites of Famous Freedom Seekers in a land they called home – Canaan. We will not only visit the hit makers but also do a little shopping and have dinner at one of Detroit’s famous eateries. _PRIVATE TOURSClients can request personalized and private time per anydaily tour. $60.00 _AIRPORT TRANSFERS$60.00 one-way$100.00 round-trip

Explore Maryland’s Underground Railroad Sites

The National Museum of African-American History and Culture, part of the Smithsonian Institution, is a must-see. The exhibitions in Washington, D.C. will take you on a journey through the complicated history of slavery and liberation. Visitors may witness firsthand how the efforts of ordinary men and women sought independence and reshaped the nation. Another point of interest in Washington, D.C. is the terminus of the C O canal towpath, which stretches over 200 miles through the city. It was utilized by freedom fighters such as James Curry, who traveled all the way to Cumberland, Maryland, using this trail.

The Maryland state capital of Annapolis is nearby, and tourists may take a walking tour to view notable buildings from the city’s colonial past on a guided tour.

A quotation from Alex Haley’s tale of his family’s trip, as depicted in the film “Roots,” appears on each plaque.

Visitors toJosiah Henson Park, located north of Washington, DC and west of Annapolis, may view a museum and visitor center built on the spot where the man whose narrative inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was formerly enslaved.

Three-story barn on the property has been transformed into a museum with displays documenting Underground Railroad activity in the surrounding area.

Baltimore and Surrounding Cities

Visit the President Street Station/Baltimore Civil War Museum while you’re in Baltimore. Maryland’s railroad history is told via the station’s participation in the Underground Railroad (Frederick Douglass once fled from this station dressed as a sailor), the American Civil War, and the station’s position in the Underground Railroad Museum. Visit the Hampton National Historic Site in Towson, which is located north of Baltimore. This Georgian palace was once home to more than 340 slaves, according to historical records.

It’s possible to go northwest from the Baltimore region to the Catoctin Iron Furnace and Manor House Ruins, or farther north to Hagerstown, which has a number of its own Underground Railroad historic sites.

Harriet Tubman’s Maryland

Alternatively, travel to Maryland’s Eastern Shore to explore Harriet Tubman’s Maryland. Stop at theDorchester County Visitor Center at Sailwinds Park in Cambridge to pick up a Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad map and brochure. Download the byway map and guide, as well as the byway audio tour. At the site, you may learn about the Underground Railroad and Dorchester’s history by visiting the exhibits. The byway driving tour explores important Tubman locations and tells the stories of slavery and freedom that took place along the Underground Railroad.

• Travel to Long Wharf, where enslaved Africans were first transported to Cambridge to be sold at auctions, and where others sought to escape via the Underground Railroad, to learn about their experiences.
• Following the Civil War, African Americans in the community banded together to build the renovated one-room schoolhouse.
• The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center, located along the byway near Church Creek, is a must-see stop.
• Explore the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge by kayaking along the Little Blackwater and Blackwater rivers, where young Tubman worked as a trapper for muskrats while being held as a slave.
• The byway travels north into Caroline County, passing via Preston and Denton, both of which were the sites of dramatic rescues by Tubman.
• There is an 1830s slave cabin on the grounds, which serves as an example of typical slave dwelling in the Tidewater region.
• Visit Linchester Mill, where free and enslaved Blacks worked alongside Quakers, many of whom were thought to have assisted freedom-seekers crossing Hunting Creek in the antebellum period.
• Anthony Thompson’s plantation at Poplar Neck, on the Choptank River, where Tubman was born.
• Choptank Landing is a good location to go near to this place.
• James and five family members resided in the cabin, which serves as a reminder of the deplorable living circumstances experienced by both free Blacks and poor whites in the area throughout the nineteenth century.

Continue on to Denton to the Museum of Rural Life, where you may visit additional historic dwellings, including a subsistence farmer’s log cabin built in 1824, among other things. In addition, there are displays regarding the Underground Railroad inside the museum.

Discover the Life and Legacy of Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass, another hero of the Underground Railroad, is being honored today. During the year 1818, Douglass was born into slavery on a farm in what is now known as Tappers Corner. Take a stroll through Frederick Douglass Park, which is located alongside the tranquil Tuckahoe Creek and next to his birthplace. In addition, the Tuckahoe Neck Meeting House is nearby, which is a historic house of worship where Quakers, such as Underground Railroad agents Hannah and Jacob Leverton, discussed ethical difficulties that they were confronting at the time.

You may pick up information on the self-guided Frederick Douglass Driving Tour at the Talbot County Visitor Center, or you can travel to St.

Michaels Museum.

Welcome

Frederick Douglass, another hero of the Underground Railroad, is being commemorated this year on his birthday. On a plantation in what is now known as Tappers Corner, Douglass was born into slavery in 1818. Located along the tranquil Tuckahoe Creek and next to his birthplace, Frederick Douglass Park is a must-see. Another historic site in the neighborhood is the Tuckahoe Neck Meeting House, which was formerly home to Quakers such as Underground Railroad agents Hannah and Jacob Leverton, who used to meet there to discuss the ethical concerns they faced.

A self-guided Frederick Douglass Driving Tour is available at the Talbot County Visitor Center, and a walking tour of Douglass landmarks in St.

Michaels Museum, is available in the town of Frederick Douglass.

Underground Railroad

Thousands of escaping slaves came through Cincinnati and Warren County on the Underground Railroad, which is widely regarded as one of the most traveled pathways to freedom in history (UGRR). The Underground Railroad was “conducted” by a network of abolitionist sympathizers who illegally assisted slaves and provided safe havens along the route from the slave states to the free states and Canada. Springboro, Waynesville, and Harveysburg, all of which were predominately Quaker villages, were hidden rest sites along the path.

One to Three Day Itinerary

Morning: Begin the day with a stroll through the brick-lined streets of old Waynesville, followed by lunch at the Cobblestone Café or the Hammel House. Afternoon: You’re ready to begin your adventure on the Underground Railroad at Springboro, which is thought to be the most frequented place in Ohio for escaped slaves, with 27 known safe homes where runaways could hide from bounty hunters in secret nooks and tunnels. This museum, which is part of the Springboro Historical Society, has intriguing information on the intricate tunnel system that originally ran beneath the town.

The Null Cabin, which is the county’s oldest on-site log cabin and a’must see’ on the tour, is a must-see. Evening: La Comedia, one of the country’s largest dinner theatre, hosts a softly lighted buffet supper followed by a boisterous Broadway-style play to round off the day.

NYC Slavery & the Underground Railroad Walking Tour

Reservations must be made in advance. ScheduleMarch – October: Wednesday Sat | November – February: Sat Time required: 2.5 hours (1.5 MI / 2.4 KM) Time of Departure1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time

Learn about the Underground Railroad in New York City!

Reservations must be made in advance of arrival. Monday – Thursday: Wed. From November through February, Saturdays are the only days available. It will take around 2.5 hours (1.5 miles or 2 kilometers). 1:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time

• This walking tour takes you to the location of the city’s earliest slave market, where you’ll learn about the history of slavery in colonial New York and the foundations of the institution. Visit a former station on the Underground Railroad and learn about its history. Take in the African Burial Ground Memorial, a moving homage to the nation’s first known black and African American cemetery.

This Tour is Celebrated in a New York Times Best-seller

Have you heard what I’m saying? Clint Smith’s New York Times best-selling bookHow the Word is Passed includes a mention of us! When revealing previously discovered facts about slavery and its impact on centuries of American history, Clint draws attention to our tour and exploits it to generate “wide-eyed moments” for readers, as he did on our trip. Hear those stories firsthand from the people who told them, and interact with our guides as you learn more about our common but little-known history.

Celebrate Harriet Tubman Day by Exploring Philly’s Underground Railroad Sites

The inscription on the Liberty Bell, a notoriously shattered symbol of the abolitionist cause, says, “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the people thereof,” according to the Bible. In this exhibition, you can see how the bell became a worldwide symbol of freedom through exhibits and movies. As in February 2021, the Liberty Bell will be open everyday, with capacity restrictions in place to provide a safe tourist experience. More information can be found at Visit Philadelphia used this photograph by M.

Kennedy.

In 1796, one of them, Ona Judge, was able to escape bondage with the assistance of the Philadelphia community of free Blacks.

More information can be found at Visit Philadelphia used this photograph by P.

• Meyer.
• Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church is located on the oldest plot of property continuously held by African Americans and serves as its “mother” church.
• Harriet Tubman, Lucretia Mott, Frederick Douglass, and William Still all addressed the congregation from the pulpit of Mother Bethel.
• Tours of the museum are only available by appointment.
• During a self-guided tour of the site’s Underground Railroad Museum, visitors can explore historical items and hear tales about the site’s history, including the story of Cornelia Wells, a free African American woman who resided there during the Civil War.

Meyer for the City of Philadelphia African Americans in Philadelphia 1776-1876, a permanent exhibit at the country’s first institution sponsored and established by a major municipality to preserve, interpret, and show the legacy of African Americans, is on display at the Audacious Freedom: African Americans in Philadelphia Museum of Art.

In addition, the museum features rotating art exhibitions that explore the contemporary Black experience.

More information can be found at After becoming the first licensed African American Methodist preachers in 1784, Reverends Richard Allen and Absalom Jones staged a walk-out when the authorities of St.

George’s Methodist Church refused to allow Black members to sit in the church’s sanctuary.

More information can be found at This Quakerburial site, established in 1703, is the ultimate resting place of abolitionists such as Lucretia Mott, Robert Purvis, and others.

It also serves as a center for environmental education.

More information can be found at Photo courtesy of R.

Kennedy for Visit Philadelphia of the Johnson House This house in Germantown, built in 1768, belonged to pious Quakers Samuel and Jennett Johnson, who, in the early 1800s, took in fugitive slaves from the South.

It is said that William Still and Harriet Tubman paid a visit to the residence, according to family history.

More information can be found at Volunteers at theKennett Underground Railroad Centergive tours of important places in this charming hamlet, which is located about an hour southwest of Philadelphia’s downtown core.

• While a timetable for guided bus tours is still being finalized for 2021, interested visitors can contact out through email to get a PDF for a self-guided tour in exchange for a $20 gift to the museum.
• Johnson The community of Bristol in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, is home to a monument dedicated to Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman, which stands along the Delaware River shoreline.
• More information may be found here.
• Enslaved persons were assisted in their trek north by churches, farms, pubs and other establishments in towns such as Yardley, Bristol, New Hope, and Doylestown, among others.
• The trip will include a stop to Collingdale’s Historic Eden Cemetery, which is the final resting place for some of the most famous people on the Underground Railroad, including William Still, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, James Forten, and many more.
• It includes a stop at Arlington Cemetery, formerly known as Riverview and Fernland Farms, both of which are located on National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom land and are managed by the National Park Service (National Park Service National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom).
• click here to find out more

Niagara Falls USA and Underground Railroad Heritage Tour

I grew up in a generation that only had a cursory understanding of African-American history, thanks to grade-school textbooks written from Eurocentric viewpoints. Regardless of your ancestral/ethnic/national/racial origins, one can never be too old to learn about one’s own history, or the history of others – regardless of your own. During Motherland Connexions’ enthralling tour, I discovered, through tears in my eyes, that the complex history of enslaved African people in America – during which an extreme form of institutionalized slavery known as “chattel slavery” was developed – canNOT be divorced from the history of the United States and its people.

I’ve had psychological conflicts (inner turmoil) for a long time because of my mixed African-European-Indigenous ancestry (learned through oral history and proven scientifically via several DNA tests).

My Blackness – really, my Africanness – had been a source of shame for decades, so I decided to confront the madness by reading all of the books that my wonderful older brother had recommended and by embarking on excellent tours into American African history, such as the Underground Railroad Heritage Tour offered by Motherland Connexions.

The tour encompasses Pan-African history, economy, and cultures in order for us tour participants to comprehend the realities that existed before the Underground Railroad concept was established – which, as Kevin explained, had to be established much later because otherwise the secret missions would have been discovered and their missions would have come to an end.

• When I was watching the precise dinner service at The Cataract House in Niagara Falls, New York, my mind was blown – not just because of the crisp, military motions, but also because of the hidden code that allowed enslaved Black people to escape from slavery.
• I was curious as to whether the expression “giving him the slip” originated with the Underground Railroad or at some point during the two centuries preceding it.
• Consider the Triangular Slave Trade, the Middle Passage, as well as all of the slave ports and slave marketplaces (some of which survived and are now depressing tourist destinations).
• The truth about this ruthlessly shrewd business of horror and devastation has been delivered by tour guide Kevin C.

While I am grateful to the many abolitionists of various stripes who worked tirelessly for the abolition of chattel slavery in America, I am most grateful to my direct yet distant ancestors who gave their lives to build this nation (the United States – and other countries in the Americas) without compensation but with much creativity and ingenuity, as well as to those who worked tirelessly for decades to locate and claim kin from plantations all over the world.

• Always at risk of being apprehended.
• I knelt down to feel the grass and wished to descend the newly constructed wooden steps so that I might dip my fingertips into the historic river.
• Finally, our non-rushed tour to the McClue Farm, which is the location of Murphy Orchard, was another really poignant experience for me, and it served as the tour’s apex.
• Kevin C.
• The barn and majestic brick farmhouse on the McClue Farm are preserved just as they were hundreds of years ago.
• The fragrance of freshly gathered fruit filled the air in the orchard.

Because they were afraid of being discovered, enslaved people traveling through the creek waters couldn’t even risk crying out in pain for fear of being discovered and captured, as the late farmer-entrepreneur Cathy Murphy reminded us in a video documentary she narrated not too many years ago (Cathy Murphy passed away five or six years ago): My tears flowed silently behind my glasses as I sat in the eerie atmosphere created by the antique barn’s eerie atmosphere while watching the poignant video of less than 20 minutes in length.

• I couldn’t care less about the dustiness and faint smell of original chestnut wood beams emanating from the dampness of recent rain.
• took us through the barn’s interior before and after the movie, and I could sense the souls of enslaved persons who had been hidden by the McClues more than 12 feet beneath a portion of barn floor that would have been covered with hay.
• In order to feel the stone around the escape hatch, I crouched down and then rose up to feel the chestnut wood columns supporting the barn’s roof.
• It was necessary for them to continue until they could be carried across the border to Canada or driven across the bridge after being disguised behind coverings on a horse-drawn carriage.
• I was brought to tears as I thought about my own DNA test findings and the population tracking that indicates various groups of ancestors settling in and around London, Ontario, as well as in greater numbers in the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia.
• is always willing to answer any inquiries from tour participants.

What a wonderful, varied tour experience it was! What a wonderful, and even a little bouncy, tour director! Thank you very much, Mr. Kevin C., and please allow the good times to continue! This review was useful to 1 traveler who found it to be helpful.

Underground Railroad Living Museum

The Underground Railroad Living Museum Flight to Freedom Tour is a “storytelling” re-enactment of the historic Underground Railroad passage that ran between 1840 and 1863, and it takes place in the Underground Railroad Living Museum in Philadelphia. Visitors will be shackled with wrist bands at the start of the trip and will begin their journey by passing through the “Door of No Return,” which is located on Goree Island in Africa. Upon entering the museum, visitors are transformed into passengers on the Underground Railroad, who are then guided to Freedom by a train conductor.

• To purchase tickets for a currently scheduled tour, please click here.
• Exhibits such as the Underground Railroad Living Museum’s “Station House” are accessible to those with disabilities and are part of the Flight to Freedom Tour.
• Once inside the “Door of No Return,” visitors will be greeted with a succession of dioramas depicting what life was like on the slave ships as they made their way to the United States.
• Visitors can debrief and/or purchase items in the Underground Railroad Bookstore, which is located at the conclusion of their trek.

Flight to Freedom Experience

(To download the UGRR Brochure, please click here.) There have been 88,374 total views, with 23 views today.

Sandusky – Underground Railroad

Sandusky – Underground Railroadwdd2020-06-08T11:52:16-04:00 Sandusky – Underground Railroad Slaves in a Field, ca. 1855, via Wikimedia Commons. Image courtesy of the website History.com Based on a tour first established for the Lake Erie Shores and Islands Visitors Bureau by the Sandusky Underground Railroad Education Center with the support of the Sandusky Old House Guild, the Underground Railroad Tour was produced. A special thanks to Eden Valley Enterprises, Elaine Lawson, and the late Janet Senne, a previous president of the Erie County Historical Society, for their support with the research.

• With the passage of the United States Constitution in 1787, which permitted slavery, the institution and the ensuing discussion grew in importance until the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, when the institution was abolished.
• As cotton fields spread westward, so did the insatiable desire for slave labor to keep up with the expansion.
• Slaveholders in eastern states like as Virginia and Kentucky were ruthless in their sales of slaves to traders who supplied the western markets with goods.
• Continue reading this article.
• Located 451 miles south of the Mississippi River, Ohio’s southern river border formed the world’s longest natural divide between free and slave soil.
• The fugitives were dropped off in Canada, where slavery had been abolished by Great Britain since 1833, after a brief 40-mile journey over Lake Erie.
• People from a part of the young country who sympathized with the suffering of the slave were attracted to the Firelands by property donated to Revolutionary War veterans from New England in the area now known as the Firelands.

Additionally, a handful of committed individuals operated boats that transported freedom seekers across the lake.

Many African-American descendants, such Rev.

We frequently hear that the Underground Railroad was not a railroad, but rather an elaborate network of agents who guided fugitives from station to station.

Although Sandusky was routinely served by railway lines from the south by the early 1850s, a number of fugitives were transported to Sandusky’s mile-long shoreline, where they boarded boats bound for freedom.

Over the years, evidence has been unearthed that confirms Sandusky’s importance at that turbulent time period in American history.

Harriet Beecher Stowe used elements of the city into her immensely renowned Uncle Tom’s Cabin tale, which was first published in 1852.

On the ship, there’s the genuine Eliza, disguised as a man, clutching the hand of her small son, who is clothed in girl’s garb, as they embark on their journey to freedom.

After leaving his bemused owner scratching his head and grumbling in the riverside village of Ripley, Tice Davids appears momentarily in Sandusky in 1831.

It is widely believed that this episode was responsible for the unofficial designation of the Underground Railroad.

There’s the Walk-in-the-Water, the United States, Bay City, and the Mayflower, to name just a few examples.

C.

A Sanduskian named Henry Merry is also mentioned as having hired wood cutters to work on his land south of town.

Reynolds maintained close ties with John Brown, but he refused to accept Brown’s invitation to participate in the ill-fated assault on Harpers Ferry.

In 1855, during the suffocating heat of the summer, they received a coffin delivered by railroad to their location.

In the Battle of Bloody Kansas, John’s namesake son fought alongside John Brown.

It was the lawyer who intervened in the 1852 attempt to have seven captured slaves returned to their home state of Kentucky.

Francis Parish, an attorney, was charged for violating the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act and fined $1000.

In this letter, Oran, a well-respected Sanduskian and partner in a publishing business that produced the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas Debates, chastises his wife, Eliza, for sheltering fugitives.

Mrs. Follett curtly retorts, “But husband, there is a greater law than man’s!” she says, retaining the long-established right to have the last say.

Because the sites on the Underground Railroad Walk are spread over a fairly wide area, some visitors may choose to drive to the sites that interest them.

Benjamin Johnson, a fugitive slave who landed in Sandusky around the 1830s, was defended by attorney Beecher. Beecher was successful in obtaining Johnson’s release by claiming that Johnson was not the plaintiff’s property because the transaction was made in Ohio, which was a free state at the time. Johnson then became a free resident of Sandusky, where he has been since. Read on to find out more Beatty Church, built in 1890. Featured image courtesy of the Sandusky Public Library Archives and Research Center

Beatty Church – SE Corner of Washington and Jackson Streets

A passerby facing south easterly from the northeast corner of Jackson and West Washington St. at any point during the latter part of the nineteenth century would have noticed the old Beatty Church, which stood just northwest of the courthouse on the site of the present courthouse. Read on to find out more

Continue west on West Washington Row and cross Jackson St. Turn left and then take an immediate right heading west on West Washington St. to Decatur St. Turn left to:

Second Baptist Church, ca. 1950, in the heart of downtown. Featured image courtesy of the Sandusky Public Library Archives and Research Center

Second Baptist Church at 315 Decatur Street

The Second Baptist Church, located in Sandusky, Ohio, is one of the most active stations on the Sandusky Underground Railroad network. It was originally known as Zion Baptist Church when it was established in 1849 by a group of former slaves and freeborn Blacks. The First Regular Anti-Slavery Baptist Church was established at its current location of 315 Decatur Street just prior to the Civil War under the name First Regular Anti-Slavery Baptist Church. Read on to find out more

(Optional – walk two blocks further on West Washington St. to Lawrence Street) Irvine Brothers’ Home at 320-322 Lawrence Street

The Irvines were a family of two brothers who resided in the double home at 320-322 Lawrence Street. John Irvine was a brilliant builder in his own right. Sam R. Irvine worked as a grocery store owner. Sloane emphasized the significance of their efforts on the Sandusky Underground Railroad. Read on to find out more

Continue south on Decatur to Adams St. Walk east on Adams Street to:

In 1858, Oran Follett, the publisher of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, lived at 404 Wayne Street in Springfield, Illinois. Eliza, Oran’s second wife, was a sympathetic listener to the plight of fugitive slaves. The granddaughter of Eliza explains that no one knows how many slaves Eliza kept concealed in her home’s basement or out in the woodshed. She warmed them, fed them, and dressed them before assisting them in their escape across Lake Erie to Canada.” Read on to find out more

Joseph M. Root House at 231 East Adams Street

Joseph Root was a strong abolitionist who went on to become an attorney, the mayor of Sandusky, and subsequently a state senator and a member of the United States Congress. Northern whites who believed slavery should be abolished and who supported escaped slaves were unquestionably in the minority under these circumstances. Read on to find out more

Henry Merry House at 330 East Adams Street

Henry Merry was the owner of the residence at 330 E. Adams Street in Chicago. In his capacity as a builder, Merry frequently hired persons who had escaped from slavery until they were able to travel to Canada on their own accord. Slave fugitives faced life-threatening hurdles from slave owners, slavecatchers, unfriendly Northerners, and the elements while on the run from slavery. Read on to find out more

Rush R. Sloane House at 403 East Adams Street

Sandusky’s Underground Railroad effort was led by freeborn black Sanduskians, who were also the movement’s leaders.

The most significant factor in assisting individuals from slavery was, in reality, communities of free blacks throughout the United States. Read on to find out more

Continue walking east and turn north on Franklin St. to E. Washington St.Turn right (east) to:

Around 1950, the George Barney House was built. Featured image courtesy of the Sandusky Public Library Archives and Research Center

George Barney House at 422 East Washington

George Barney was born in Sandy Hill, New York, in the year 1814. In 1842, he relocated to Milan, Ohio, where he worked in the mercantile industry for several years. When George and his wife Caroline married in 1855, they relocated to Sandusky, Ohio. Their home at 422 E. Washington Street was bought in a sheriff’s sale three years after that acquisition. Read on to find out more Captain Thomas McGee’s residence in 1955. Featured image courtesy of the Sandusky Public Library Archives and Research Center

Captain Thomas McGee House at 536 East Washington

Sandusky was just as vital as the ports of Toledo, Ashtabula, and Cleveland for the Underground Railroad as they were for other modes of transportation. A captain of many sloops and schooners on Lake Erie, Captain Thomas McGee, who lived in the home to your right, was a prominent figure in the community. Read on to find out more

Cross E. Washington and head west on south side of East Washington St. to Hancock St. Turn right (south) to Facer Park

When a group of young civic leaders in Sandusky came together in 2005, they launched an initiative to bring attention to the city’s participation in the Underground Railroad. Sculpture and accompanying educational exhibits will be installed in Facer Park, which is located on the city’s waterfront and is open to the public. It was a collaborative effort with over 50 local organizations, corporations and individual participants. On October 9, 2007, the park was officially dedicated. The sculpture, which was created by local artist Susan Schultz, is a symbolic picture of daring individuals who have broken free from the bonds of slavery.

1. HENSLEY, JOSIAH In his memoirs, Josiah Henson describes how he and his family managed to get away by going via an area a few miles west of Sandusky and boarding a ship in Sandusky Bay.
2. FRANCIS DRAKE Francis Drake Parish was born in Ontario County, New York, in 1796, and grew up in Upstate New York.
3. PRISON IN THE CONFEDERATE A jail for Confederate commanders was administered by the United States on Johnson’s Island in Sandusky Bay from 1862 to 1865.
4. Read on to find out more

Head west on Water Street to:

In 1847, Christopher Columbus Keech traveled from Batavia, New York, to Sandusky, Ohio. He received training as a hatter and opened a hat shop on the south side of Water Street, east of Columbus Avenue, in the early 1900s. Keech advertised in the Sandusky Directory of 1855 as a “wholesale and retail dealer in hats, caps, furs, buffalo robes, mittens, buckskin, and woolen gloves.” He also advertised in the 1855 Sandusky Directory as a “wholesale and retail dealer in hats, caps, furs, buffalo robes, mittens, buckskin, and woolen gloves.” Read on to find out more

Marsh Tavern at 100 East Water Street (now Civista Bank)

Rush Sloane noted that this was the first narrative he had heard about the Underground Railroad in Sandusky, and that it was the first account he had heard about it. In the fall of 1820, a traveler on his way to Canada stopped at Marsh’s Tavern, which was located on the corner of Wayne and Water Streets, and is now the location of Civista Bank today. He was kept hidden by John Dunker, the black hostler, and Captain Shepherd, who sailed a small vessel and resided at the Tavern with his wife and children.

Stop 7 – Getting back to parking and further exploration

After completing the Underground Railroad Tour, visitors are urged to pay a visit to the Sandusky Maritime Museum, which is situated at 125 Meigs St. A number of exhibits are dedicated to Sandusky’s Underground Railroad, which can be found at the museum. Oakland Cemetery is a well-established and historically significant cemetery. The Sandusky Library has hosted a number of special tours, including one on the Underground Railroad, in the past. Oakland is located on Route 250, approximately six miles south of downtown (just North of the Sandusky Mall near the intersection of Perkins Ave.).

The land was acquired by the city from Jane S.

Beatty was a pioneer settler in Perkins Township, and he was born in the area.

The home and the Chapel were built in 1885, and the Chapel was refurbished and rededicated in 1975 after being closed for several years.

A Journey to Freedom, the Underground Railroad in PA

Discover the important role that Pennsylvania had in supporting slaves on their journey to freedom by visiting one of the many secret hideaways and places along the Underground Railroad that were discovered.

1. Indiana County Underground Railroad Driving Tour

Indiana County is located in the U.S. state of Indiana. The self-guided Indiana County Underground Railroad Driving Tour will take you on a journey down the path to liberation. During the three-hour tour, you will pass by notable landmarks such as the former AME Zion Church (which was the first African church organized in the county), the McCune Store (whose “safe room” in the store’s basement was used to harbor escaping slaves), and Mr. and Mrs. David Myers’ House (which was the home of the Myers family) (the couple were considered friends of slaves because they rescued and fed them on multiple occasions).

2. Blairsville Underground Railroad History Center

Blairsville According to local historians, the Blairsville Underground Railroad History Center is situated in the former Second Baptist Church, which is believed to be the town’s oldest African American church.

“Freedom in the Air,” designed by Dr. Chris Catafalmo and on loan from the Indiana County Historical & Genealogical Society, and “Day in the Life of an Enslaved Child,” developed by Denise Jennings-Doyle, a founding member of the UGRR program, are the two primary exhibitions at the Center.

3. Kennett Square Underground Railroad Center

Kennett Square is a neighborhood in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. With a visit to theKennett Square Underground Railroad Center in adjacent Philadelphia, visitors will learn about important aspects of our nation’s past. The Center’s mission is to educate the public about abolitionists in the local area through exhibitions, bus tours, lectures, and on-going research. Consider the path traveled by fugitives, who were aided by stationmasters who harbored slaves, to reach the stations and sites that make up this historic stopover point.

4. LeMoyne House

Washington Isn’t it true that LeMoyne House is Pennsylvania’s first National Historic Landmark associated with the Underground Railroad? Running away slaves were welcomed at the home of Dr. Francis Julius LeMoyne, who made his home and other assets available to them on their journey to freedom. The LeMoyne House provided as a safe haven for those fleeing the Nazi occupation before continuing their journey northward to the Canadian border.

5. Stoltzfus BedBreakfast

Lancaster Stoltzfus BedBreakfast, located in the heart of Amish Country, is a renovated Victorian estate that was originally utilized as a safe home for members of the Underground Railroad. Built in 1845 by Captain William Fassitt, this bed and breakfast was first intended to entertain visitors and host expensive parties. However, exhausted escape slaves would often stop here to recover before continuing their journey to freedom.

6. Christiana Underground Railroad Center

Christiana Take a self-guided tour of the Christiana Underground Railroad Center, located in the historic Zercher’s Hotel, and see the remnants of the infamous Resistance at Christiana, a fugitive slave rebellion that sparked a national debate about slavery after the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed, and which sparked the American Civil War. For over a century, Zercher’s Hotel has operated as a hotel as well as a railroad depot as well as a post office, telegraph office, and jail, and it is presently the home of The Charles Bond Company, a manufacturing company that has been in business at the site since 1915.

7. Pheasant Field Bed and Breakfast

Carlisle The “John Miller property,” which is now the Pheasant Field Bed and Breakfast, was originally part of a land grant obtained from the heirs of William Penn by Matthew Miller Sr. circa 1730 and is now part of the Pheasant Field Bed and Breakfast. It is important to note that the floor of a closet in the summer kitchen was cut to allow freedom seekers to hide until it was safe enough for them to go on to the next safe house in the neighborhood. This area of the property was renovated in the 1970s and bits of plates and dining utensils were discovered, possibly from the food that had been provided to the runaways at the time.

8. Dobbin House Tavern

Gettysburg The Dobbin House Tavernin Gettysburg, which was formerly a stop on the Underground Railroad where slaves could seek shelter, has been transformed into a colonial-style restaurant and tavern. Take advantage of the opportunity to have an excellent lunch while staying the night in the circa-1776 mansion, which is currently operating as a bed and breakfast. Investigate historical artifacts such as period furniture and slavery-era hiding places, and then go into the suite that overlooks the location of former President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

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