8 12, 2016

15. Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge

2023-07-28T14:15:42-04:00

15. Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge

Timeless Landscapes

COVID-19 UPDATES:

  • The Blackwater Visitor Center is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10am to 4pm.
  • The Wildlife Drive and refuge trails are open daily from sunrise to sunset.

The forests, marshes, and waterways that characterize the 30,000-acre refuge are largely unchanged from the time that Harriet Tubman lived and worked in Dorchester County. The refuge is situated halfway between where she spent portions of her childhood on Edward Brodess’ farm near Bucktown and the plantation where her father labored and where she was born at Peter’s Neck. Knowledge of the terrain was vital to survival while hiding and trying to flee.

Tubman and others had to successfully navigate the land and waterways, trap and forage for food, and hide from their pursuers. Fleeing slaves often lacked proper clothing to protect them from the elements and they suffered from weather extremes and insects, in addition to the terror of drowning or being caught. Though Harriet Tubman is not known to have liberated others from this area, several escapes did occur within the refuge boundaries.

The Blackwater Visitor Center is open 10am to 4pm, Tuesday through Sunday; closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas. For more information, visit fws.gov/blackwater, or call 410-228-2677.

Information

Address

2145 Key Wallace Drive
Cambridge, MD 21613
410-228-2677

GPS Coordinates: 38.444829,-76.119574

Practical info
  • Visitor center
  • Parking
  • Restrooms
  • Exhibits
  • Trails
  • Tours
  • Bald eagles
  • Waterfowl

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15. Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge2023-07-28T14:15:42-04:00
8 12, 2016

16. Little Blackwater Bridge

2023-05-26T11:21:00-04:00

16. Little Blackwater Bridge

At work in the marshes

A bridge has crossed the Little Blackwater near here since the 1700s, when Harriet Tubman’s grandmother, Modesty, was enslaved on Atthow Pattison’s tobacco farm, situated across the river on the southeast side. Modesty gave birth to Harriet’s mother, Rit Green, there. When Pattison died in January 1797, he gave the enslaved girl “Rittia” to his granddaughter, Mary Pattison, with the stipulation that Rit and all of her future children be set free when “she and they arrive to forty-five years of age.”

Rit later moved to Madison when her owner, and young widow, Mary Pattison Brodess, married Anthony Thompson in 1803. There, Rit met and married Ben Ross and they started their own family. Atthow Pattison’s wish that Rit and her children eventually be set free was never honored.

Years later, Ben and Rit’s child Minty, the young Harriet Tubman, was hired to work for the James Cook family who lived near this bridge. Initially, Minty was expected to learn the trade of weaving. Instead, she was sent into the nearby marshes to watch Cook’s muskrat traps. It was harsh, dangerous work for a child, done in the winter, when muskrat furs are at their finest.

Information

Address

Key Wallace Drive and Little Blackwater River
Church Creek, MD 21622

GPS Coordinates: 38.445901,-76.087575

Practical info
  • Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center nearby

 

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16. Little Blackwater Bridge2023-05-26T11:21:00-04:00
8 12, 2016

17. Brodess Farm

2023-11-20T08:55:05-05:00

17. Brodess Farm

Where Harriet Tubman Was Enslaved as a Child
(Privately Owned)

Edward Brodess, Harriet Tubman’s enslaver, lived at this site. He moved Tubman’s mother Rit and her children to his farm in Bucktown after 1823 or 1824. Tubman spent her early years here and on nearby farms. No trace remains of Brodess’ original home that once sat near the existing house at the end of the lane.

Edward Brodess, with a small farm and few livestock, did not have enough work to fully employ all of his slaves. However, he had eight children to support, so he frequently hired his enslaved people out to neighboring farmers. Rit and her children suffered both emotionally and physically from these separations, one of the many injustices of the institution of slavery.

Harriet Tubman later told an interviewer that she seldom lived with the Brodesses. He was “never unnecessarily cruel; but as was common among slaveholders, he often hired out his slaves to others, some of whom proved to be tyrannical and brutal to the utmost limit of their power.” Harriet’s brothers, Ben and Robert, recalled harsher treatment at the hands of the Brodesses. Robert felt Edward Brodess “was not fit to own a dog.” Ben was more to the point: “Where I came from,” he later recalled, “it would make your flesh creep, and your hair stand on end, to know what they do to the slaves.”

Information

Address

Greenbrier Road
Bucktown, MD 21613

GPS Coordinates: 38.459031,-76.048522

Practical info
  • Historic marker
  • Small roadside pull-off

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17. Brodess Farm2023-11-20T08:55:05-05:00
8 12, 2016

18. Bucktown General Store

2023-06-28T15:28:25-04:00

18. Bucktown General Store

Site of Harriet Tubman’s First Act of Defiance

In 1835, Bucktown was a busy community with two stores, a shopkeeper’s home, blacksmith shop, and surrounding farms at this crossroads. Shipyards were nearby on the Transquaking River.

Hired out to a nearby farmer, Harriet Tubman and the farm’s cook went to a store at this crossroads to purchase some goods for the house. At the same time, a slave belonging to another master left his work without permission. His overseer pursued him to the store and ordered Tubman to help him tie up the man, but she resisted. Suddenly, the slave broke free and ran. The overseer grabbed a two-pound weight off the counter and hurled it toward him. It struck young Tubman in the head, almost killing her and causing a severe injury that troubled her for the rest of her life.

Tubman recalled “My hair had never been combed and it stood out like a bushel basket . . . I expect that thar hair saved my life.” The blow from the iron weight cracked her skull. “They carried me to the house all bleeding an’ fainting. I had no bed, no place to lie down on at all, and they lay me on the seat of the loom, and I stayed there all that day and next,” she later recalled. She was forced “to work again and there I worked with the blood and sweat rolling down my face till I couldn’t see.”

Operated by the Bucktown Village Foundation, 410-901-9255. Exterior can be visited dawn to dusk; interior open by appointment only. There may be a small fee for the interior tours.

Information

Address

4303 Bucktown Road
Bucktown, MD 21613
410-901-9255

GPS Coordinates: 38.459167,-76.031385

Practical info
  • Network to Freedom Program site
  • Parking
  • Tours
  • Bike rental nearby
  • Kayak rental nearby

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18. Bucktown General Store2023-06-28T15:28:25-04:00
8 12, 2016

19. Bestpitch Ferry Bridge

2023-05-26T11:08:03-04:00

19. Bestpitch Ferry Bridge

Marshland Secrets to Escape

Bestpitch Ferry Bridge is located at the site of a former ferry over the Transquaking River. This historic wooden bridge provides a view of Dorchester County marshlands. In this countryside, knowledgeable local people could hide for days, even weeks, and follow the waterways north toward Underground Railroad connections in the East New Market area, Caroline County, and onto freedom.

Many free and enslaved African American watermen operated ferry crossings throughout the region. They transported agricultural and timber products along the region’s many rivers on rafts. This provided opportunities for freedom seekers to hitch a ride or stow away in the holds and sail away to freedom.

The Blackwater and Transquaking rivers and their estuaries provided opportunities for local residents to hunt, fish and gather food for survival. Abundant fish and fowl live and breed in these waters, and many small and larger animals, including muskrats, rabbits, squirrels and deer live in nearby marshes and woods. Nuts, berries and a variety of roots and herbs round out the possible food and medicinal supplements available to 19th-century residents.

Information

Address

Bestpitch Ferry road and Transquaking River
Bucktown, MD 21613

GPS Coordinates: 38.417229,-75.992767

Practical info
  • Cars only, no buses!
  • Buses turn around in DNR parking lot 1/4 mile on the right before bridge.
  • One-lane bridge
  • Parking on both sides of river
  • Boat launch

 

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19. Bestpitch Ferry Bridge2023-05-26T11:08:03-04:00
8 12, 2016

20. Scott’s Chapel

2023-05-26T11:05:57-04:00

20. Scott’s Chapel

Drive-by Access Only

Harriet Tubman’s master, Edward Brodess, was a member of the congregation founded here in 1812. Tubman, her mother, and siblings may have worshipped here with other enslaved families and their owners.

Traditionally, the enslaved were required by their masters to attend church services with them, sitting in the back of the church or in balconies, separate from white congregants. The current building was constructed in 1891. The church has separate graveyards with blacks buried just east of Bucktown Road and whites buried behind the church and grove of trees. Members of the Bucktown community from Harriet Tubman’s time are laid to rest in this cemetery.

This is an active community church. Please respect the sanctity of the grounds and services.

Photo above credit of Chesapeake Bay Program

Information

Address

Bucktown Road
Bucktown, MD 21613

Practical Info
  • No Public Access

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20. Scott’s Chapel2023-05-26T11:05:57-04:00
8 12, 2016

21. Pritchett Meredith Farm

2023-05-26T11:02:42-04:00

21. Pritchett Meredith Farm

Betrayed by a Black Underground Railroad Conductor

Drive-by Access Only

The flight of the “Dover Eight” made national headlines on March 8, 1857 when eight slaves escaped together from the Bucktown area, two of them from this farm. The group first sought help from Reverend Samuel Green in East New Market. Then they found assistance from Harriet Tubman’s father, Ben Ross, at Poplar Neck in Caroline County. Eventually they found their way to Thomas Otwell, a black Underground Railroad conductor in Delaware. Tubman trusted Otwell with the group’s safety. Instead, He betrayed her trust and lured them to the Dover jail so he could collect the $3,000 reward for their capture. With quick thinking and a show of force, the group successfully broke out of the jail and fled to Wilmington, then Philadelphia, and finally to Canada.

Local slaveholders sought swift and stern justice for anyone who assisted the “Dover Eight.” The Reverend Samuel Green was arrested and jailed on suspicion of aiding the group’s escape. Ben Ross nearly experienced the same fate, but Tubman rescued him just in time. Two of the eight escapees temporarily joined John Brown’s small army in Canada before the raid on Harper’s Ferry.

Information

Address

Bucktown and DeCoursey Bridge Roads
Bucktown, MD 21613

GPS Coordinates: 38.470997, -76.021121

Practical info
  • No public access

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21. Pritchett Meredith Farm2023-05-26T11:02:42-04:00
8 12, 2016

22. Faith Community United Methodist Church

2023-05-26T10:55:12-04:00

22. Faith Community United Methodist Church

Faith United Methodist Church and Rev. Sam Green

Sarah Young, a free black woman, deeded land to establish the Colored People’s Methodist Episcopal Church in 1844. Now known as Faith Community United Methodist Church, this church is the second structure to house this still-active congregation.

Reverend Samuel Green, a free black preacher, was one of the church’s first trustees. A highly respected preacher, he offered hope and resistance to slavery. His preaching did not escape the close scrutiny by white overseers, however. African-Americans regarded southern white ministers as part of the system of slavery. These ministers stressed obedience and patience.

Born in slavery, Green purchased his freedom in 1834. Within 10 years, he purchased the freedom of his wife, “Kitty.” His children, however, remained enslaved and out of his reach. In 1854, his son, Sam, Jr., fled to Canada, but Green’s daughter, Sarah, was sold away from her two little children and never seen again.

Green turned anger into action. As an Underground Railroad agent, Reverend Green helped Harriet Tubman and many others to freedom, including a group of freedom seekers called the “Dover Eight” in March 1857. He was caught and brought to trial. Unable to convict Green, the white jury acquitted him. He was soon charged with possession of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a violation of Maryland’s law governing possession of abolitionist literature by people of color. He was sentenced to ten years in prison.

Information

Address

509 Railroad Avenue
East New Market, MD 21631

GPS Coordinates: 38.596774,-75.914811

Practical info
  • Street parking only
  • Restaurants nearby
  • Water tours

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22. Faith Community United Methodist Church2023-05-26T10:55:12-04:00
8 12, 2016

23. Jacob and Hannah Leverton Home

2023-05-26T10:54:00-04:00

23. Jacob and Hannah Leverton Home

Station House of Quaker Underground Railroad Agents
Privately Owned

Refugees from slavery found sanctuary here. One morning in the mid-1840s, a young enslaved woman, covered in bloodstained clothing, walked up to the Leverton farm. Jacob and Hannah took her in, nursed and fed her, and gave her clean clothing. Jacob was seen later that night traveling northward in his carriage with an unidentified guest. The young woman’s enslaver inquired about her at the Leverton home the next day. Jacob told the man that he had helped the girl and then “let her pass on.” The infuriated slave owner sued Jacob Leverton. Ordered to pay a large fine, Jacob became ill and soon died. His wife, Hannah most likely continued their Underground Railroad efforts. Jacob and Hannah Leverton were white, Quaker abolitionists. Their house has been described as “the main stopping place for the Underground Railroad in the region.” Along with the Levertons, free black millwright Daniel Hubbard and Quakers Jonah and Esther Kelley provided havens on their properties to help slaves reach freedom.

For more information, call 410-673-1910.

Information

Address

3531 Seaman Road
Preston, MD 21655
410-673-1910

GPS Coordinates: 38.705033,-75.890304

Practical info
  • Network to Freedom program site
  • Private property
  • Drive by only

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23. Jacob and Hannah Leverton Home2023-05-26T10:54:00-04:00
8 12, 2016

24. Linchester Mill

2023-05-26T10:53:03-04:00

24. Linchester Mill

Enslaved and Free Blacks Working Side by Side

Daily life around Linchester Mill provided fertile yet dangerous ground for those seeking freedom. Whites and blacks, free and enslaved, would have regular contact here, at the general store or the post office. Free and enslaved African Americans worked side-by-side, providing a constant flow of information and support to freedom seekers. Quakers and free blacks who lived near the mill secretly helped fleeing slaves pass through the area.

A series of water-powered grist and sawmills operated here from the 1680s until 1979. The mill was situated amidst a secret network of safe houses: the Levertons, the Hubbards and the Kelleys on the west side, and Harriet Tubman’s parents Ben and Rit Ross at Poplar Neck on the east side. Daniel Hubbard, a known Underground Railroad conductor who lived less than a mile away, probably worked at the mill and may have helped build it. The milldam provided a possible crossing point over Hunting Creek for fugitives headed to the Ross home at Poplar Neck, to Marsh Creek Church or Preston and beyond. Such crossing points helped freedom seekers stay dry, particularly important in cold weather, and to avoid unwanted attention.

The mill is scheduled to be open April through October 2022 on the fourth Saturday of the month, 11am-4pm for docent led tours and Market Days.

Information

Address

Route 331 and Linchester Road
Preston, MD 21655

GPS Coordinates: 38.701374,-75.897358

Practical info
  • Parking
  • Restrooms
  • Braille Trail
  • Picnic area
  • Mill tours by appointment
  • Information about the area

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24. Linchester Mill2023-05-26T10:53:03-04:00
8 12, 2016

25. Choptank Landing

2023-05-26T10:52:08-04:00

25. Choptank Landing

Site of Harriet Tubman’s Most Daring Rescues

Harriet Tubman’s parents were active in the Underground Railroad in this area, and she most likely made her first escape from near here. Dr. Anthony C. Thompson employed Tubman’s father, Ben Ross on his 2,200 acres of heavily forested land in Poplar Neck during the late 1840s and 1850s. He also employed large numbers of free and enslaved black laborers in his timbering operations and sawmill.

On Christmas Day 1854, Tubman led her three brothers to freedom from Poplar Neck. Robert, Ben and Henry, and several others hid in a corncrib until dark, when they could begin their journey north. At nightfall, Tubman safely led them towards freedom, traveling through Delaware, Pennsylvania and across upstate New York to St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.

Josiah Bailey, a skilled shipwright, escaped slavery in November 1856 by rowing a boat at night six miles from Jamaica Point in Talbot County up the Choptank River. He passed by here on his way to Poplar Neck. Then he met with Ben Ross, Tubman’s father, to plan his escape the next time Tubman was ready to go.

In March 1857, Ben Ross was suspected of aiding the escape of eight slaves, called the Dover Eight. Harriet Tubman rushed to the Eastern Shore to rescue her parents at great risk to herself before her father could be arrested. Cobbling together a makeshift, one-axle wagon, she rigged up a horse with a straw collar and drove her parents toward Delaware. They eventually made their way to St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada with the help of numerous Underground Railroad agents along the way.

Information

Address

Choptank Road at Choptank River, Preston, MD 21655

GPS Coordinates: 38.681619,-75.951033

Practical info
  • Seasonal restrooms
  • Beach
  • Marina
  • Public landing
  • Kayak entry

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25. Choptank Landing2023-05-26T10:52:08-04:00
8 12, 2016

26. Mount Pleasant Methodist Episcopal Cemetery

2023-05-26T10:50:59-04:00

26. Mount Pleasant Cemetery

Secret Meeting Place

This is the site of the original Mount Pleasant Methodist Episcopal Church, an African-American church community established in 1849 when local Quakers sold this land to free blacks, so they could build their own church. The congregation later moved to the town of Preston, where they still meet for services. This cemetery is still used by the church.

The cemetery may have served as a meeting place for fugitives on the Underground Railroad. Harriet Tubman was known to have used a cemetery as a rendezvous point for some of her escapes north. Laws restricted blacks from meeting in groups, and Tubman preferred to meet those who were fleeing with her in secret places away from their homes. She “was never seen on the plantation herself.”

Choosing a meeting place, sometimes miles distant, protected Harriet from discovery should any of the fleeing slaves get caught by their masters. A group of slaves gathering in a cemetery might not arouse the same attention as a group of black people gathering in a home, or even secretly in the woods, which was specifically forbidden by law.

Information

Address

2246 Marsh Creek Road
Preston, MD 21655

GPS Coordinates: 38.720533,-75.926176

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  • Parking

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26. Mount Pleasant Methodist Episcopal Cemetery2023-05-26T10:50:59-04:00
8 12, 2016

27. Jonestown

2023-05-26T10:48:54-04:00

27. Jonestown

Jenkins Jones established Jonestown as a community of free African-Americans in antebellum years. Jenkins and other free blacks wished to improve their destiny through education, so they founded a school and hired teachers to stay in the community and teach their children. The courageous Jonestown residents had the common bond of faith in God, which gave them hope for their future. They used this faith to empower themselves to create positive change for themselves. The people of Jonestown may have had connections in assisting Harriet Tubman and her rescue missions. Today, descendants of the original founders of Jonestown are successful professionals with firm roots in this community.

Information

Address

Jonestown Community Park
Preston, MD 21655

Practical info
  • Motor coach-accessible
  • At the community park, you will find a playground, a trail and an open field

 

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27. Jonestown2023-05-26T10:48:54-04:00
8 12, 2016

28. Webb Cabin

2023-05-26T10:47:01-04:00

28. Webb Cabin

Typical African-American Home

James H. Webb, a free African-American farmer, built this hand-hewn log home around 1852 and lived here with his enslaved wife and their four children – Charles, Elizabeth, John and Ann, and Webb’s father, Henry. The family were members of nearby Mount Pleasant Church. The one-room home, with its “potato hole,” open fireplace, and loft accessed by a crude ladder, was built of materials found nearby. It sits on its original ballast-stone foundation from ships that plied the Chesapeake Bay.

Typical of housing for most African Americans at the time, this cabin is a rare survivor today. It also represents the kind of housing that sheltered many poor white families during the early and mid-19th century. Harriet Tubman’s father and mother, Ben and Rit Ross, probably lived in a very similar structure at nearby Poplar Neck.

The lack of resources and primitive characteristics of such buildings have long precluded preservation of many structures like this one. Webb’s cabin has been preserved for generations and utilized for a variety of purposes. The structure is owned and maintained by the Caroline Historical Society and sits on a one-acre plot of land owned by Caroline County.

Information

Address

Grove Road
Preston, MD 21655

GPS Coordinates: 38.755608,-75.892793

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  • Parking
  • Picnic area

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28. Webb Cabin2023-05-26T10:47:01-04:00
8 12, 2016

29. Gilpin Point

2023-05-26T10:45:53-04:00

29. Gilpin Point

Sailing Away to Freedom

Forty-year-old Joseph Cornish was enslaved by Captain Samuel LeCompte, married to a free black woman, and the father of five children. On December 8, 1855, Cornish most likely knew about the secret network Harriet Tubman relied upon in Philadelphia and New York, when he started out on “foot for Gilpins Point.” He had heard there was a vessel about to sail. He “worked his passage” to Baltimore, and then he made his way to Underground Railroad agent William Still in Philadelphia on Christmas Day. From there, Cornish was forwarded to agent Sydney H. Gay in New York City. He eventually made his way to St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, where Harriet Tubman, her brothers and many others from Maryland’s Eastern Shore were settling into their freedom.

In the mid-19th century, Gilpin Point was one of the busiest wharves along the Choptank River. It served as a landing for passenger ships and merchant vessels. It sat just upriver from Dr. Anthony C. Thompson’s plantation where Harriet Tubman’s parents lived and where Harriet herself conducted several of her most famous escapes.

Information

Address

Holly Park Drive
Harmony, MD 21655

GPS Coordinates: 38.809594,-75.896881

Practical info
  • Parking
  • Network to Freedom program site
  • Beach
  • Fishing
  • Picnic area
  • Kayaking

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29. Gilpin Point2023-05-26T10:45:53-04:00
8 12, 2016

30. William Still Interpretive Center

2023-08-28T14:37:02-04:00

30. William Still Interpretive Center

Tragedy and Triumph on the Road to Freedom

William Still Interpretive Center - Harriet Tubman Byway - Denton, MarylandWilliam Still’s mother Sidney and four of her children lived in a house similar to this on Alexander “Saunders” Griffith’s plantation. Her husband, Levin Still, had been set free in 1798 by his young enslaver and resettled in New Jersey, hoping to bring his family there. Around 1806, Sidney escaped with her four children, but was soon recaptured.

After being locked away for three months, she was released and promptly fled again. In a heartbreaking decision, she was forced to leave behind two sons, Peter and Levin. Enraged by her actions, Griffith sold the two boys to slave traders from Kentucky. After joining her husband in New Jersey, Sidney renamed herself Charity, and the Stills raised a large family there. William, born in 1821, was the youngest of 18 siblings.

William Still became educated and moved to Philadelphia where he became Chairman of the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, assisting in the escapes of an estimated 1,500 freedom seekers. Harriet Tubman frequently passed through Still’s office, seeking protection and support for her rescues.

In 1850, Still realized that one of the men he was assisting was his own lost brother Peter, who had been sent to Alabama by his Kentucky enslavers years earlier. Peter’s later memoir, The Kidnapped and the Ransomed, raised enough funds to purchase his enslaved family. William Still’s documentation of more than 1,000 freedom seekers was published in 1871 as The Underground Railroad, one of the most important and authentic records of the operations of the Underground Railroad in history.

The Interpretive Center celebrates the Still family’s own daring and heart-wrenching struggle for freedom from bondage through escape, resettlement, and later, Underground Railroad activity. The center, housed in a historic one room “cottage” from 1820, features a period “slave cabin” interior, exhibits and a “garden patch” highlighting foodstuffs common in gardens cultivated by Eastern Shore enslaved people.

The house underwent restoration for years, and opened to the public in May 2022. Onsite signage tells the stories of the site from the time of Algonquin Indians, early commercial agriculture, and the William Still family connection. A glass rear door allows visitors to see inside the restored historic dwelling. The building does not offer any visiting hours, but visitors are welcome sunrise to sunset to view the building and peek through the glass door to see inside.

Information

Address

4-H Park, Detour Road
Denton, MD 21629

GPS Coordinates: 38.833305,-75.833382

Practical info
  • 4-H Park
  • Picnic pavillions
  • Restrooms
  • Conference Center
  • Exhibits

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30. William Still Interpretive Center2023-08-28T14:37:02-04:00
8 12, 2016

31. Caroline Courthouse

2023-05-26T10:34:48-04:00

31. Caroline Courthouse

Site of Slave Auction and Jail

Although reconstructed after the Civil War, the courthouse’s place in the middle of town is symbolic of the central role it played in the past. The courthouse symbolized white legal, political, economic and social power during the antebellum period. A slave market was located here, where slaves were auctioned to buyers and traders. Courthouse Square was also the site of the jail where captured runaways and Underground Railroad conductors, like Hugh Hazlett, were held. Hazlett, a 27-year-old Irishman, was arrested in Greensboro for assisting seven people to escape slavery in 1858. After being jailed, Hazlett and the seven others were transported to Cambridge by steamboat for trial. Greeted by an angry mob, Hazlett was sentenced to 44 years in prison.

In 1853, African American residents celebrated the escape and return of Richard Potter, a free black youth, who had been kidnapped by a local farmer and smuggled to a Delaware boat captain to be sold as a slave. Punishments for “stealing slaves” or “enticing slaves away” or outright kidnapping included long prison terms, heavy fines, and confiscation of property.

For more information, call 410-479-2055.

Information

Address

Courthouse Square
Denton, MD 21629
410-479-2055

GPS Coordinates: 38.886442,-75.832752

Practical info
  • ParkingKiosk with maps/info
  • Museum of Rural Life
  • Byway interpretation and exhibits
  • Restaurants nearby

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31. Caroline Courthouse2023-05-26T10:34:48-04:00
8 12, 2016

32. Moses Viney/Daniel Crouse Memorial Park

2023-05-26T10:33:37-04:00

32. Moses Viney Daniel Crouse Memorial Park

Challenging Slavery

Moses Viney was born into slavery in Talbot County, but escaped on Easter morning in 1840, after learning he might be sold to slave traders in the Deep South.

As a child, Moses played with his master’s son – Richard Murphy – who shared Moses’ birthday. When they turned seven, they weren’t allowed to play together anymore. Mr. Murphy sent Moses out to work in the fields. When Mr. Murphy passed away, Richard decided to sell Moses to the highest bidder.

Two men fled with him: Hinson Piney and Washington Brooks. Their flight from Talbot County brought them to Caroline County near Denton on the Choptank River. The slavecatchers’ hounds were fast on their scent, tracking them down. But Moses had prepared for this moment. He had been kind to those dogs for months – fed them, patted them. When the dogs approached Moses, he told them to go on home. The dogs wagged their tails, and bounded away. Moses found a canoe nearby without paddles. He took two fence posts and used them to row across the Choptank River near here.

The men traveled by night, hid out by day. They took a steamboat from Smyrna, Delaware to Philadelphia, then eventually reached Schenectady, New York. Moses worked as the personal carriage-driver to the president of Union College, Eliphalet Nott.

Ten years later in 1850, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law, allowing any slave owner to reclaim his “property” at any time, in any state. While Moses was driving President Nott’s carriage through town, there on the corner was Richard Murphy – his childhood friend and former enslaver – looking to reclaim his property. Moses rushed to Nott and begged for help. Nott helped Moses escape to Canada and paid Murphy $250 to leave Moses alone. Eventually, Moses came back from Canada, having escaped slavery for the second time.

Information

Address

5 Crouse Park
Denton, MD 21629
410 479-2050
www.carolinemd.org

Practical info
  • Motorcoach-accessible
  • Caroline County Visitor Center located on site welcomes guests to discover the area’s heritage, places to explore and things to do, including dining, shopping, recreation and more.

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32. Moses Viney/Daniel Crouse Memorial Park2023-05-26T10:33:37-04:00
8 12, 2016

33. Denton Steamboat Wharf

2023-05-26T10:32:25-04:00

33. Denton Steamboat Wharf

Once Thriving Port

During the 1850s, steamboats loaded with freight and passengers made weekly departures from Denton to Baltimore. Enslaved African-Americans worked in shipyards here on the Choptank River. When Underground Railroad conductor Hugh Hazlett was arrested for assisting enslaved people to flee, he boarded a steamboat here in 1858 on his way to trial in Cambridge, downriver, where he faced possible mob violence.

The Choptank River played a role in the history of slavery as much as any plantation field. At this point it was still wide and deep enough to serve as a barrier to escape for freedom seekers. Imagine the challenges they faced in trying to ford or cross waterways or hide away on vessels. Denton boasted not only an active port, but also a ferry crossing, and the Eastern Shore’s first moveable bridge structure spanned the Choptank here in 1811.

The Denton Steamboat Wharf also houses the Caroline County Office of Tourism.

For more information, visit www.tourcaroline.com or call 410-479-0655.

Information

Address

10219 River Landing Road
Denton, MD 21629
410-479-0655

GPS Coordinates: 38.888378,-75.839597

Practical info
  • Tourism office
  • Maps
  • Exhibits
  • Picnic area on deck overlooking river
  • Canoe/kayak launch
  • Adkins Arboretum

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33. Denton Steamboat Wharf2023-05-26T10:32:25-04:00
8 12, 2016

34. Tuckahoe Neck Meeting House

2023-05-26T10:30:48-04:00

34. Tuckahoe Neck Meeting House

Quakers as Underground Railroad Agents
Privately Owned

Built in 1803, this was one of five Quaker meeting houses in Caroline County whose members sustained a local Underground Railroad network. Quakers also supported women’s equality and the end of slavery. By 1790, Quaker meetings on Maryland’s Eastern Shore were free of all slave owners. Quakers then became some of the earliest and most effective activists to end slavery in America and abroad.

They quickly began establishing a loose network of individuals with shared values who could be tapped to help escaping slaves find their way north, and provide support and shelter once they arrived. Abolitionist Hannah Leverton from the Linchester Mill area spoke here and was married here.

Quakers were at the forefront of the fledgling Women’s Rights Movement in the mid-19th century. Quaker women like Lucretia Mott, her sister, Martha Coffin Wright, and many others participated in the first women’s rights convention held in Seneca Falls, New York. Other powerful abolitionists and like-minded men and women supported them. Harriet Tubman would become close to many of these women, and through them, she would become involved with the women’s suffrage campaigns of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Information

Address

Meeting House Road
Denton, MD 21629

GPS Coordinates: 38.891444,-75.842966

Practical info
  • Parking
  • Adkins Arboretum nearby

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34. Tuckahoe Neck Meeting House2023-05-26T10:30:48-04:00
8 12, 2016

35. Adkins Arboretum

2023-05-26T10:26:41-04:00

35. Adkins Arboretum

Typical Woodland and Marshland

Adkins Arboretum is a 440-acre garden and preserve dedicated to promoting the appreciation and conservation of the region’s native plants. Walking along streams, over wetlands, and through woodlands allows visitors to experience the kinds of landscapes that freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad passed through on their way north.

The Arboretum offers programs year-round in ecology, horticulture and natural history for all ages, including special programming related to survival strategies used by fleeing slaves traversing these landscapes generations ago. Five miles of paths feature streams, meadows and rich bottomland forest.

Visit their website at www.adkinsarboretum.org.

Information

Address

12610 Eveland Road
Ridgely, MD 21660
410-634-2847

GPS Coordinates: 38.954553,-75.931191

Practical info
  • Visitor center
  • Parking
  • Interpretive exhibits
  • Restrooms
  • Audio tours
  • Trails

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35. Adkins Arboretum2023-05-26T10:26:41-04:00
8 12, 2016

36. Greensboro

2023-05-26T10:25:10-04:00

36. Greensboro

Dangerous Crossing

In 1797, Greensboro resident Peter Harrington was president of the Choptank Abolition Society, formed to promote the end of slavery in Maryland.

Supported by Quakers, some Methodists, and others, regional societies like this worked on the local level. Petitions to the Maryland House of Delegates first focused on the trafficking of slaves and demanded an end to the exportation of slaves and free people of color.

Marketable goods were brought here, transferred to wagons and hauled to Delaware markets. Produce and timber products were delivered and shipped to ports near and far. Through these trade activities, Greensboro residents, free and enslaved, learned about religious revivalism, abolition and other new ideas. The northernmost bridge over the Choptank River was located in Greensboro. Though freedom seekers traveling north were tempted to use bridges, they usually avoided them, as the threat of recapture was high at these obvious crossing points.

In 1849, the year Harriet Tubman escaped, scores of freedom seekers fled nearby Talbot County. The slaveholders knew many were moving through Caroline County on their way to Delaware and beyond. Some of them, no doubt, passed near here. In August 1852, two men from Sandtown, Delaware, tried to entice a slave named Tom to escape. Tom informed his master, and an ambush was set to capture the two men in Greensboro. News reports suggested that the men were going to kidnap Tom and sell him to slave traders in the Deep South.

Information

Address

North Main Street and Cedar Lane
Greensboro, MD 21639

GPS Coordinates: 38.976015,-75.804296

Practical info
  • Parking on side road
  • Lodging nearby
  • Restaurants nearby
  • Restrooms

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36. Greensboro2023-05-26T10:25:10-04:00
8 12, 2016

37. Christian Park / Red Bridges

2023-05-26T10:24:01-04:00

37. Red Bridges

A Place to Wade Across the Choptank

This stream at the headwaters of the Choptank River was possibly near Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad route to Sandtown, Delaware. The current at this location is fast, yet the water is shallow.

Freedom seekers who followed the Choptank River to Delaware may have crossed here and at other shallow tributaries near the Choptank’s headwaters. Like Harriet Tubman, fugitives relied heavily on the secret network of safe houses belonging to blacks and whites throughout central and northern Delaware. Harriet Tubman later told historian Wilbur Siebert that her preferred route was by way of her parents’ home in Poplar Neck, to Sandtown across the Maryland border.

While fugitives made parts of their journeys unaided, the assistance provided by a secret network of sympathetic people and those who ran safe houses was invaluable to their success. Throughout Delaware, communities of Quakers and a large free black population helped hide and escort runaways northward on their way to Pennsylvania.

Information

Address

Red Bridges Road
Greensboro, MD 21639

GPS Coordinates: 38.999843,-75.787492

Practical info
  • Picnic area
  • Fishing
  • Small craft launch

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37. Christian Park / Red Bridges2023-05-26T10:24:01-04:00
8 03, 2016

Tubman Day Symposium Set for March 10th

2016-11-23T00:06:53-05:00

To mark the anniversary of the passing of Harriet Tubman, there will be a Tubman Day Symposium on March 10 at 4pm at the new (and not yet officially open) Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park Visitor Center. (NOTE: If construction issues prevent the event from happening there, the symposium will be moved to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center at 2145 Key Wallace Drive, Cambridge, MD. Updates will be posted here closer to the event date.)

The title of the symposium is “Re-examining the Meaning of Freedom: Harriet Tubman’s Fervent Quest to Return.” The symposium is open to all. The objective of this symposium is to explore the African American journey towards freedom and the extent to which an “afterlife” is achieved. After freeing herself, Harriet Tubman returned to the Eastern Shore of Maryland several times to rescue several members of her family. Apparently, freedom took on a different face for a “lonely” Tubman and the idea of personal freedom without her love ones gave her greater determination to help others escape so to experience “freedom” with a sense of wholeness.

Invited panelists will take a closer look at their research to further examine the aftermath and true meaning of freedom for “runaway slaves” within a historical context. The overall goal of this formal interpretive program is to prompt opportunities to re-evaluate the historical question of “Freedom” within a 21st century paradigm. This scholarly discourse which will include a moderator, panelists and audience participation will essentially create new conversations on civil disobedience, resistance and the many assertions that the Underground Railroad becomes the backdrop for the modern American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and beyond. This special event seeks to challenge this and future generations to think more provocatively about American slave historiography and the longstanding Civil Rights movement leading up to the ever-changing present day “freedom” narratives across the globe.

The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park Visitor Center is located on Route 335 adjacent to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.

Tubman Day Symposium Set for March 10th2016-11-23T00:06:53-05:00
8 03, 2016

Tubman Banquet is March 14

2016-03-08T14:06:21-05:00

The Harriet Tubman Banquet celebrates the life of a freedom fighter, scout, spy, nurse and abolitionist born in Dorchester County, Maryland. The banquet begins at 2:45pm on Saturday, March 14, 2015, at the Dorchester Center for the Arts, 321 High Street in Cambridge, Maryland. The theme is “Harriet Ross Tubman is Coming Home – We Thank You.” Honorees include Senator Ben Cardin, Senator Barbara Mikulski; Representative Andy Harris, and Former Governor Martin O’Malley. The event is sponsored by the Harriet Tubman Organization, Inc. Tickets cost $35 per person or $60 per couple. Contact person for ticket info and reservations is Donald Pinder at 410-228-0401 or 410-330-1185.

Tubman Banquet is March 142016-03-08T14:06:21-05:00
8 03, 2016

Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill?

2016-03-08T14:05:15-05:00

Could Harriet Tubman end up on the $20 bill? It’s possible! A grassroots movement, Women on 20s, is pushing to replace Andrew Jackson with a historic U.S. woman. And the woman they selected — with help from more than 600,000 people who voted — is Harriet Tubman! (They started with 20 history-making women in the running, and then narrowed the field to four finalists including Harriet, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, and Wilma Mankiller.) While the movement has gained attention from around the world, it’s up to the Treasury Department to make decisions on who’s represented on U.S. currency. We think this courageous and selfless leader, spy, scout, nurse, and all-around humanitarian deserves the honor. Read more in this Baltimore Sun story.

Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill?2016-03-08T14:05:15-05:00
8 03, 2016

Tubman UGRR Conference Registration Now Open

2016-11-23T00:45:47-05:00

Registration is now open for the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Conference, happening in Cambridge, Maryland, on June 5 and 6, 2015. The annual event features two days of workshops about Harriet Tubman and other freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad — as well as opportunities for local tours through the landscapes where Harriet Tubman once lived. The idea is to bring together professionals and individual researchers who have undertaken study regarding Harriet Tubman and the many other people who risked their lives to provide slaves an opportunity to escape this region, and place them into a larger context of national importance. Find out more information and register at www.tubmanugrr.com.

Tubman UGRR Conference Registration Now Open2016-11-23T00:45:47-05:00
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