Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway
Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway Driving Tour Harriet Map Tubman Underground Railroad1 Byway Driving Tour Driving Tour Guide Guide 1 Map # Site Page Map # Site Page
Content 1 Dorchester County Visitor Center 4 18 Pritchett Meredith Farm 24 The Underground Railroad was a secret network of people, places, and routes 2 Harriet Tubman Memorial Garden 5 19 Bestpitch Ferry Bridge 25 that assisted escaping slaves reach freedom. It was named after the steam 3 Dorchester County Courthouse 6 20 Scott’s Chapel 25 locomotive, an early 19th century invention. The network adopted code words
Harriet Tubman Underground 4 Long Wharf 7 21 Faith Community UMC Church 28 - conductor, agent, and passenger - to avoid discovery and harsh punishment. Railroad Byway 5 Harriet Tubman Museum 8 22 Jacob and Hannah Leverton House 29 Because Maryland bordered the free state of Pennsylvania, it was a hotbed of 2 Rose Hill Place 6 Stanley Institute 10 23 Linchester Mill 30 Underground Railroad activity. Cambridge, MD 21613 410-228-1000 7 Church Creek / Whitehaven 11 24 Choptank Landing 31 Harriet Tubman was born a slave in Dorchester County in 1822. She escaped www.HarrietTubmanByway.com 8 Malone's Church 12 25 Mount Pleasant Cemetery 32 to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1849. Wanted by law enforcement and slave 9 Madison 13 26 Webb Cabin 33 catchers, Tubman returned here repeatedly to rescue family and friends. 10 Joseph Stewart’s Canal / Parsons Creek 14 27 Gilpin Point 34
11 New Revived Church 15 28 William Still Interpretive Center 35 The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway takes you to places that
12 Buttons Creek 18 29 Caroline County Courthouse 36 Harriet Tubman knew well. Some of these historically significant landscapes
13 Harriet Tubman 30 Choptank River Heritage Center 37 are part of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument. Underground Railroad State Park 19 31 Tuckahoe Neck Meeting House 38 Along the way you will find interpretive markers, audio stops, exhibits, and
14 Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge 20 32 Adkins Arboretum 39 structures to help make their journeys come to life. As you encounter these
Harriet 15 Little Blackwater River Bridge 21 33 Greensboro 40 stories, allow yourself to be transported back to another time and reflect on Harriet Tubman Tubman Underground 16 Brodess Farm 34 Red Bridges 41 the lives of these ordinary people who did extraordinary things in the face of Underground Railroad 22 Railroad Byway Byway 35 Driving Tour 17 Bucktown Village Store 23 Delaware State Line 42 great personal danger. Driving Tour Guide Guide 2 3 Site History Local Area Map Nearby Site
Historic Cambridge 1 Dorchester County Visitor Center 2 Dorchester’s CHOPTANK Established in 1684, Harriet Tubman Memorial Garden 2 Rose Hill Place, Cambridge, MD 21613 « RIV Roots ER the City of Cambridge US 50 at Washington Street, Cambridge, MD 21613 410-228-1000 4 embraces its Colonial and Relatives of Harriet Ross Tubman still live in Dorchester In 1608, English Captain www.TourDorchester.org HARBOR maritime heritage. Step County, as do descendents of slave holders. Members C T John Smith met Native H S Overlooking the Choptank River, the Dorchester County UR H back in time while stroll- of the local community chose to honor Tubman at this IG Americans here when he CH H ing brick-paved streets in Visitor Center is the perfect place to begin your byway ST quiet, roadside garden. People across the country can join 3 1 adventure. An exhibit provides background informa- explored the Chesapeake the historic district. Enjoy a them in paying their respects to this American hero. Tub- tion on Harriet Tubman and Underground Railroad Bay. As the colony guided walking tour or find M ARK man’s story, that of a young slave who freed herself, then U M ET S MA a variety of restaurants, gal- activity in the area. Knowledgeable staff can assist you in flourished, so did demand GAY SE ST T RYLA S ND Y returned to rescue family and friends, inspires emotional T 5 A A leries, boutiques, and mu- for cheap labor. In 1664 the VE W planning your tour and provide information on events, T E and artistic expression in works of literature, music, sculp- S T seums nearby. You can also
General Assembly codified A T accommodations, dining opportunities, shopping, and G S ture, paint, and performance. One of Tubman's relatives
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T E N a system of slavery that S E A outdoor experiences. D E GH AC public marina and boat painted the murals here. A I C R H C for 200 years supported a O The waterfront park offers a sandy beach, play- A R launch, and the Choptank OS E LYN plantation society on the V 50 RiverE Lighthouse. To learn ground, picnic tables, a riverfront walkway and a fishing CE A A 341 DA R ST VE
R pier. The visitor center is open daily 8:30 – 5:00. Contact backs of enslaved workers. E more, visit: T
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D G S R E The Memorial Garden is A made it a hotbed of D N T I WA E P W located adjacent to Route SH OO Underground Railroad INGTON AY S 2 W50 East, near a variety of ac- activity, until emancipation T EY YL commodations and services. Dorchester County Visitor BA came to Maryland slaves ST Harriet Center at Sailwinds Park East is at the end of the Civil War Harriet Tubman designed to recall the heyday of CAMBRIDGE Tubman Underground in 1864. Underground Railroad sail, when schooners, clippers, Railroad Byway and fleets of oyster boats plied Byway Driving Tour Driving Tour Guide the Chesapeake Bay. Guide 4 5 Site History History Site Nearby
3 Dorchester County Courthouse 4 At Long Wharf you Challenging Far from home Long Wharf will find free parking, 206 High Street, Cambridge, MD 21613 « « Slavery High Street at Choptank River, Cambridge, MD 21613 the Choptank River “We had a little slave In 1850, Harriet Tubman’s niece, Kessiah, and her two Ships from Africa and the West Indies brought kidnapped Lighthouse, a public This Italianate courthouse boy whom we had hired children escaped from the auction block at the front Africans and sold them along this waterfront until the marina, seasonal farm- was built in 1854, two of the courthouse. On the day of the auction, Kessiah from someone, there in trans-Atlantic slave trade was outlawed in 1808. Soon, ers market, and edu- and her children stood before buyers when the bidding years after the original was Hannibal. He was from southern states began cultivating cotton, increasing their cational tours aboard started. Kessiah’s husband, John Bowley, a freeman and destroyed by fire. In 1857, the Eastern Shore of need for slave labor. About the same time, wheat prices the skipjack, Nathan of a sailor, outbid everyone. When an official appeared to Samuel Green, a free black Maryland, and had been plummeted causing a sell-off of slaves from the Eastern Dorchester. collect payment, no one came forward. Kessiah and her preacher and Underground brought away from his Shore. Thousands of enslaved workers were eventually children were missing. John had secretly whisked them Railroad agent, was tried family and his friends, shipped from this wharf to plantations in the Deep South, away and moved them by boat to Baltimore. There, they here and sentenced to 10 half way across never to see their homes or families again. met Tubman who led them to Philadelphia. years in prison for owning the American continent, a copy of the anti-slavery and sold.” —Mark booklet, Uncle Tom’s Twain, Autobiography of Cabin. A year later, another Mark Twain : The Com- Underground Railroad con- plete and Authoritative ductor, Hugh Hazlett, was Edition Volume 1 sentenced to 44 years for assisting fugitive slaves. Before the Bay Bridge Long Wharf and Dorchester opened in 1955, com-
Harriet County Courthouse are merce to and from Harriet Tubman located in historic downtown the Eastern Shore was Tubman Underground Underground Railroad Cambridge, just steps from conducted by water. Railroad Byway restaurants, shops, galleries, Cambridge was a hub of Byway Driving Tour Driving Tour Guide and museums. maritime industries. Guide 6 7 Nearby Site History
The Harriet Tubman 5 Museum operates in a Harriet Tubman Museum 424 Race Street, Cambridge, MD 21613 storefront in Historic Downtown Cambridge, (410) 228-0401 “…I should fight for my liberty amid restaurants, shops, www.harriettubmanorganization.org and galleries. Free The Harriet Tubman Museum is the oldest community parking is available in lots organization dedicated to Dorchester County’s heroic behind the center and on native daughter. Founded in the 1980s by local residents, as long as my strength lasted, the street. the organization celebrates Tubman’s legacy to serve as a role model for young people. The museum offers exhibits, programs, and information about Tubman’s life in the area. and when the time came for me to go, the Lord would let them take me." —Harriet Tubman to Sarah Bradford in Harriet, The Moses of Her People, 1886
Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad A large, hand painted mural is Byway the centerpiece of the Harriet Driving Tour Guide Tubman Museum. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division 8 D R R E R V RI E
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Highway Y CAMBRIDGE C LL MD Route 16, Cambridge, MD 21613 « MDO Route 16 and Golden Hill Road, Church Creek, MD 21622 T to Freedom H S
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R C AN K R EK tions and trade betweenK IV school stands as a testament to the black community’s E T nication network that spanned not only coastal American ER
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C C MADISON H the Chesapeake and Dela-W C 4 determination to educate their children. The school was R N towns, but also across the Atlantic. They brought news, 9 U HARB H ware bays. The great major-R OR C D used until the 1960s. 16 ideas, and information to enslaved communities,S spread-T P S RI H ity of enslaved people who NG IG RD ing notions of liberty, as well as gossip. In the earlyH 19th ND S 16 SLA T S I fled this area before the 3 1
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T G S R E on the edge of the City of D C A H D Harriet were determined to avoid capture by bounty hunters or angry mobs as they headed N Harriet T F I WA E E P S W Tubman R H A OO Cambridge. From here, the HIP ROOF R 335 Tubman INGTON Y D R W Underground north. They received help from people on the Underground Railroad, and they eventu- Y 2 Underground ST byway loops through historic, RD Railroad LEY Railroad ally made their way to freedom in Canada. National newspapers called the escape a AY Byway rural landscapes associated D B T Byway R S Driving Tour L 19 “Stampede of Slaves.” L Driving Tour with Harriet Tubman. I Guide HO H CAMBRIDGEGuide OPE N RS E IS D 10 L L 11 A N O D G R D Site History Nearby Site History Nearby 8 Malone’s Church The probable birthplace of 9 Madison The sleepy village of Madison « Friends and Family Harriet Tubman is private belies its bustling maritime White Marsh Road, Madison, MD 21648 property. Nearly 200 years after MD Route 16 and Madison Canning House Road, past. Here you will find Araminta Ross, later known as Harriet Tubman, was For decades before the Civil War, four nearby communi- her birth, there is no structural Madison, MD 21648 parking, picnic facilities, ties, connected by footpaths through the woods, provided probably born in 1822 at Anthony Thompson’s farm on evidence of slave quarters. Harriet Tubman successfully led from here Winnebar camping, and water access, as a strong social network among free and enslaved blacks. nearby Harrisville Road. Although they were moved to Johnson, the slave of Samuel Harrington, in early June well as a restaurant. As soon as the war ended, these communities established a plantation in Bucktown for some time, Harriet, her 1854. Johnson passed through Underground Railroad their own African American churches. Founded in 1864, mother, and several siblings were back in the area living agent William Still’s office in Philadelphia, where Still Malone's Methodist Episcopal Church was the first. The on Thompson’s plantation by 1840. A large community noted that Johnson had been “brought away by his sister immediate formation after emancipation indicates that of enslaved and free black families lived and worked Harriet two weeks ago.” Johnson was passed along to the strong, well established, faith communities existed long between Harrisville and White Marsh roads, bustling port of New Bedford in Massachusetts, where before freedom came. creating an important social world for he lived and worked with other runaways, some from Harriet and her family. Dorchester County.
« Learning Nature’s Ways Harriet Tubman spent her formative years around Madi- son. She worked for Joseph Stewart, in his home and fields, until she joined her father Ben Ross in Stewart’s lumbering operation. Harriet learned important outdoor skills when she worked with her father in the woods. Understanding the tides, knowing how to find food and Harriet Some oral tradition suggests Harriet fresh water, and following the North Star were all skills Tubman Tubman that Harriet Tubman lived Underground that later proved vital as she confidently guided passen- Underground Railroad and worked with her husband, Railroad Byway John Tubman, near Malone's gers north along the Underground Railroad to freedom. Byway Driving Tour Driving Tour Guide Methodist Episcopal Church. Guide 12 13 D R R E R V RI E
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A Family Divided R C AN K R « EK 4350 SmithvilleK Road, Taylors Island, MD 21669 IV E T ER proximity to public water
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Parsons Creek C C MADISON John Trevelian StewartH W C The New Revived United Methodist Church, once known 4 access. These waterways MD Route 16 and Parsons Creek, Taylors Island, MD 21669 R N 9 U HAR employed the enslavedH R BOR C as Jefferson DMethodist Episcopal Church, was established are very popular for 16 S T Over a period of 20 years, 1810–1832, enslaved and free P S Harriet Tubman and her fa- RI H in Smithville in 1876. Before the Civil War, Methodist NG IG kayaking. Underground RD H blacks dug this seven-mile canal through the marsh. The ND S 16 SLA ther, Ben Ross, after he was T Railroad guided kayak S I Camp Meetings were popular in the area. 3 1
wealthy, powerful, and slave holding Stewart family owned OR CHURCH CREEK
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supporter of slavery. An D W E wife joined him with their two small children in 1855. GH AC R RD A I C 11 IA R BR H C EN 17 O E A R uncle, Levin Stewart, freed R OS G Marriages between members of these neighboring com- E LYN K V 50 E E R 16 CE A A Y D 341 DA S his slaves in 1817, and WA LLACE R V M munities also illustrate the degree of social interaction ST E 13 15 R I E T T
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T G S R E D When Harriet Tubman’s C A H D N T F I WA E E P S W R H A OO HIP ROOF R three335 brothers made it to INGTON Y D R W Y 2 ST freedom in Philadelphia in RD LEY AY D B T 1854, they R chose as their S L 19 IL HO aliases: H James Stewart, CAMBRIDGE OPE N New Revived Church is one of four traditionally black churches in RS E IS D L JohnL Stewart, and William the area that were founded immediately following the Civil War A O Harriet N Harriet D G and emancipation. Tubman R Henry Stewart. Tubman D Underground Underground Railroad Stewart’s Canal is part of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway Railroad National Monument. A few miles down the byway, just past Byway Driving Tour Driving Tour Guide Smithville Road, you will find restaurants, a marina, and camping. Guide 14 15 Stewart's Canal
"I had reasoned this out in my mind; there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty, or death; if I could not
Harriet Harriet Tubman Tubman Underground have one, I would have the other; for no man should take me alive.” —Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Railroad Byway Byway Driving Tour Driving Tour Guide Guide 16 17 D R R E R V RI E
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D W E GH AC erly disguised herself in R RD A I C 11 IA R The Maryland Park Service is constructing the Harriet BR H C west of this landing. EN 17 O E A R R OS men’s clothing, success- G E TubmanLYN Underground Railroad State Park in her honor. Harriet Tubman’s brother, Ben Ross, had hoped to K V 50 E E R 16 CE A A Y D 341 DA S W ACE R V M ALL ST E fully executing a daring 13 15 R The landscapes near here have changed little since Har- marry Jane, but Jones refused to allow them to do so. Ben I E T T
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T G S R E D C A H D mas Eve 1854 occurred N T F I WA Einclude a meditation garden, exhibits, a theater, and out- E P W SH OO HIP R INGTON AY ROOF RD 335 R along Buttons Creek on W Y S 2door interpretation that will tell the stories of the life and R T D EY land that now is part of YL times of Harriet Tubman and of slavery in Dorchester D BA R ST 19 the Blackwater National L County. Harriet’s activities during the Civil War and her IL HO H CAMBRIDGE Wildlife Refuge. OPE N later years as a suffragist, civil rights worker, and humani- RS E IS D L L A N O tarian will also be highlighted. D G R D
Harriet Harriet Tubman An architect’s rendering Tubman Underground Underground Railroad of the Harriet Tubman Railroad Byway Underground Railroad State Byway Driving Tour Driving Tour Guide Park Visitor Center. Guide 18 19 Site History Site Nearby
14 Blackwater National 15 Little Blackwater River Bridge Blackwater National Wildlife « The Marsh Refuge welcomes visitors to Wildlife Refuge Key Wallace Drive and Little Blackwater River explore its Wildlife Drive, This 28,000-acre refuge Church Creek, MD 21622 2145 Key Wallace Drive, Cambridge, MD 21613 walking paths, and bookstore. contains wetlands A bridge has crossed the Little Blackwater near here since 410-228-2677 Stop in the Visitor Center and forests similar to the late 1700s, when Harriet Tubman’s grandmother, where you will find exhibits The forests, marshes, and waterways that characterize the those of the mid-19th Modesty, was enslaved on Atthow Pattison’s nearby and restrooms. refuge are largely unchanged from the time that Harriet century. The trails and tobacco farm. Modesty gave birth to Harriet’s mother Rit Tubman lived and worked in Dorchester County. It is waterways at Blackwater Green there. When Pattison died in January 1797, he gave situated halfway between where she spent portions of offer a place to see birds, an enslaved girl named “Rittia” to his granddaughter, Mary her childhood on Edward Brodess’ plantation and the wildlife and environs that Pattison, with the stipulation that Rit and all of her future plantation where her father labored and where she likely were a part of Harriet’s children be set free when “she and they arrive to forty-five was born. life. Though Harriet is years of age.” Knowledge of the terrain was vital to survival while not known to have liber- hiding and trying to flee. Harriet and others had to suc- Rit later was moved to Madison when her owner, ated others from this cessfully navigate the land and waterways, trap and forage the widow Mary Pattison Brodess, married Anthony area, several escapes did for food, and hide from their pursuers. Fleeing slaves often Thompson in 1803. Rit met and eventually married Ben occur within the refuge lacked proper clothing to protect them from the elements Ross and they started their own family. Atthow Pattison’s boundaries. For more and they suffered from weather extremes and insects, in wish that Rit and her children eventually be set free was information, visit: www. addition to the terror of drowning or being caught. never honored. fws.gov/blackwater.
Harriet Harriet Tubman Located on the Atlantic Flyway, Blackwater Tubman Underground Underground Railroad National Wildlife Refuge hosts many thousands Railroad Byway of migrating birds and waterfowl, such as these Byway Driving Tour Driving Tour Guide Canada geese, during the year. Guide 20 21 D R R E R V RI E
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D W E GH AC R RD A I C 11 IA R BR 17 HTransquaking River.C to lie down on at all, and they lay me on the seat of the remains of Brodess’ original home that once sat near the EN O E A R R OS G E LYN K One night, Harriet and the farm’sV cook50 went to E loom, and I stayed there all that day and next.” She was existing house at the end of the lane. E R 16 CE A A Y D 341 DA S W ACE R V M ALL ST E 13 15 R I a store at this crossroads to purchaseE some goods for forced “to work again and there I worked with the blood T T
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Harriet Harriet Tubman For decades, visitors have Tubman Underground Underground Railroad visited the place that was Railroad Byway historically linked to Harriet Byway Driving Tour Driving Tour Guide Tubman’s birth. Guide 22 23 Site History Site Site
18 19 20 Pritchett Meredith Farm Harsh Justice Bestpitch Ferry Bridge Scott’s Chapel Bestpitch Ferry Road, Bucktown, MD 21613 « Bestpitch Ferry Road and Transkquaking River Bucktown Road, Bucktown, MD 21613 There is no public access. Local slaveholders Bucktown, MD 21613 Harriet Tubman’s master, Edward Brodess, was a The flight of the “Dover Eight” made national headlines sought swift and stern This historic bridge over the Transquaking River member of the congregation here. Tubman, her mother, on March 8, 1857 when eight slaves escaped from justice for anyone who provides a view of Dorchester County marshes. In this and siblings may have worshipped here with other Dorchester County. The group first sought help from assisted the flight of environment, knowledgeable slaves could hide for weeks enslaved families and their owners. The current building Rev. Samuel Green in East New Market. Then they the “Dover Eight.” The and follow the waterways north to freedom. was constructed in 1891. The church has separate found assistance from Harriet Tubman’s father, Ben Rev. Samuel Green Many free and enslaved African American graveyards with blacks and whites buried on opposite Ross. They soon found their way to Thomas Otwell, a was arrested and jailed watermen operated ferry crossings throughout the sides of the road. black Underground Railroad conductor in Delaware. on suspicion of aiding region. They transported agricultural and timber Tubman trusted Otwell with the group’s safety. Instead, the group’s escape. products along the region’s many rivers on rafts. This he lured them to the Dover jail so he could collect the Ben Ross, Harriet provided opportunities for self-emancipators to hitch an $3,000 reward for their capture. With quick thinking Tubman’s father, nearly occasional ride or stow away in the holds and sail away to and a show of force, the group successfully broke out of experienced the same freedom. the jail and fled to Wilmington, then Philadelphia, and fate. Two of the eight finally to Canada. escapees temporarily Note: No buses on the bridge! Buses should enter the joined John Brown’s Department of Natural Resources lot on the right, small army in Canada approaching the bridge to park and turn around. before the raid on Harriet Tubman provided Harper’s Ferry. Underground Railroad instructions to the Dover Harriet Harriet Tubman Tubman Eight, one of the few successful This is an active Underground Underground Railroad escapes by slaves from the community church. Please Railroad Byway Bucktown area. respect the sanctity of the Byway Driving Tour Driving Tour Guide Stephens, H. L. (Henry Louis), Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division grounds and services. Guide 24 25 Bestpitch Ferry Bridge
When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway There was such a glory over everything.” —Harriet Tubman Driving Tour Guide 27 D R R E R V RI E
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N R A D 16 T 21 You will find a deli P 22 Faith Community UMC Church United Methodist O Jacob and Hannah Freedom to in historic East New CH RD HARMONY « EM Turn right on Railroad Avenue, continue across tracks to: Church. The building is H Worship Market. Down the road LE TH Leverton House 509 Railroad Avenue, East New Market, MD 21631 the second to house this in Secretary, you will BE Sarah Young, a free black 3531 Seaman Road, Preston, MD 21655 Born into slavery, Samuel Green purchased his freedom find waterfront dining continuously operating GRO woman, deeded land near VE R Leverton House is owner-occupied, private property. from his owner’s estate in 1834. Later he was able to congregation. Free black and riverboat cruises on D D Refugees from slavery found sanctuary here. One R here in 1843 to seven free the Choptank River. purchase the freedom of his wife, Catherine, but his preachers offered hope 26 Y black trustees, including N morning in the mid-1840s, a young enslaved woman, children remained enslaved and out of his reach. CARROLL RD O and resistance in their M CARO abolitionists MAIN ST LIN the Rev. Samuel Green. The Leverton House R «E CO covered in bloodstained clothing, walked up to the As an Underground Railroad agent, Rev. Green helped A UN sermons, but white H T These original trustees (right page) is 16 Jacob and HannahY Leverton farm. Jacob and Hannah took her in, nursed Harriet Tubman and many others to freedom, including 50 overseers closely CREEK authenticated as an H BRU Leverton were white, and fed her, and gave her clean clothing. Jacob was seen established S NKHORST RD R 25 the group of men called the Dover Eight in March 1857. monitored black R Underground Railroad A D Quaker abolitionists. later that night traveling “northward” in his carriage He was arrested for his role in their escape and brought the Colored M PRESTON ministers. safe house and is Their house has been People’s M D with an unidentified guest. The young woman’s enslaver A R to trial. Unable to convict Green for his involvement, Samuel Green, recognized as such I N CAROL E N A INdescribedE as “the main inquired about her at the Leverton home the next day. Methodist V M CO D A S A . an all white jury acquitted him. He was soon charged by the National Park R E T E literate K L S N P stopping place for the Jacob told the man that he had helped the girl and then Episcopal Service Network to TA MA with possession of a copy of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s and highly P 23 22 O Underground RailroadFEDERALSBURG “let her pass on.” The infuriated slave owner sued Jacob Church Freedom program. H novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a violation of Maryland’s law respected, did C in August in the region.” Along Leverton. Ordered to pay a large fine, Jacob became ill governing possession of abolitionist literature by people not escape this 24 DORCHE 1844, now STER withC the Levertons, and soon died. His wife, Hannah may have continued of color. He was convicted and sentenced to ten years in close attention OUN called Faith free blackT millwrightY his Underground Railroad efforts. prison. Green was pardoned in 1862. to his preaching. Community Daniel Hubbard and
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23 There is fuel and food in the 24 Linchester Mill town of Preston. Linchester Christmas Choptank Landing Route 331 and Linchester Road, Preston, MD 21655 « Mill has ample parking and Journey Choptank Road at Choptank River Daily life around Linchester Mill provided fertile yet seasonal, special events. You Preston, MD 21655 On Christmas Day 1854, dangerous ground for those seeking freedom. Whites will also find a picnic area Harriet Tubman’s parents were active in the and blacks, free and enslaved, would have regular and restrooms. Tours can be Harriet Tubman led Underground Railroad, and she most likely made her contact here, at the general store or the post office. Free arranged by appointment. her three brothers to first escape from around here. Josiah Bailey, a skilled and enslaved African Americans worked side-by-side, freedom from nearby shipwright, escaped slavery in November 1856 by rowing You will find free parking at providing a constant flow of information and support Poplar Neck. Robert, a boat at night six miles from Jamaica Point in Talbot Choptank Landing (right to freedom seekers. Quakers and free blacks who lived Ben and Henry, and County up the Choptank River. He passed by here on his page), as well as a picnic table several others hid in near the mill secretly helped fleeing slaves pass through and restrooms (closed in way to nearby Poplar Neck. There, he met with Ben Ross, a corncrib until dark, the area. The mill dam created a spot to cross Hunting winter). A small beach and Harriet Tubman’s father, to plan his escape the next time when they could begin Creek. Such crossing points helped freedom seekers kayak launch, public dock, and she was ready to go. Harriet led Bailey and three others avoid unwanted attention. a boat ramp make water sports their journey north. to Canada. accessible here. A National Park At nightfall, Harriet Service Network to Freedom safely led them on their Choptank Landing sits near interpretive sign discusses the journey towards free- Poplar Neck, the point of land just to the north, where Choptank River’s role in the dom, traveling through Harriet Tubman’s parents Underground Railroad. Delaware, Pennsylvania lived and worked on Anthony and across upstate New Thompson’s plantation. York to St. Catharines, Linchester Mill was the Ontario, Canada. Harriet hub of Underground Harriet Tubman Railroad activity Tubman Underground Underground Railroad conducted by Quakers, Railroad Byway abolitionists, and free Byway Driving Tour Driving Tour Guide blacks living in the area. Guide 30 31 Site History Site History Nearby
25 26 You will find a picnic Mount Pleasant Cemetery Harriet Saves Webb Cabin area nearby. 22446 Marsh Creek Road, Preston, MD 21655 « Grove Road, Preston, MD 21655 Her Parents This is the site of the original Mount Pleasant Methodist James H. Webb, a free African-American farmer, built Episcopal Church, an African American church In March 1857, Ben Ross this hand-hewn log home around 1852 and lived here community that began when local Quakers sold land to was suspected of aiding with his enslaved wife and their four children. The family free blacks in 1849, so they could build their own church. the escape of eight slaves, were members of nearby Mount Pleasant Church. The The congregation later moved into the town of Preston called the Dover Eight. one-room home, with its “potato hole,” open fireplace, where they still meet for services. This cemetery is used Harriet Tubman rushed and loft accessed by ladder, was built of materials found by the church and may have served as a meeting place for to the Eastern Shore nearby. It sits on its original ballast-stone foundation fugitives on the Underground Railroad. Laws restricted to rescue her parents from ships that plied the Chesapeake Bay. blacks from meeting in groups, and Tubman preferred before her father could Typical of housing for most African Americans at to meet those who were fleeing with her in secret places be arrested. Cobbling the time, this cabin is a rare survivor today. The lack of away from their homes. She “was never seen on the together a makeshift, one- resources and primitive characteristics of such buildings plantation herself.” axle wagon, she rigged up have long precluded preservation of many structures like a horse with a straw collar this one. Webb’s cabin was preserved for generations and and drove her parents utilized for a variety of purposes. toward Delaware. They eventually made their way to St. Catharines, Ontario Canada with the help of In restoring the Webb family’s cabin, craftsmen numerous Underground Harriet used a sensitive approach Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman was known Railroad agents along to re-creating the specially Tubman Underground the way. Underground Railroad to have used a cemetery as a milled weatherboard siding to Railroad Byway rendezvous point for some of protect the original logs and Byway Driving Tour Driving Tour Guide her flights north. flooring. Guide 32 33 D R R E R V RI E
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D After being locked away for three months, she National Park Service Network Anthony C. Thompson’sE his way to Underground Railroad agent William Still of the men he to Freedom marker at this
L N was released and promptly fled again. However, she 16 plantation where Har- in Philadelphia on Christmas Day. From there, Cornish was assisting location. AWA was forced to leave behind two sons, Peter and Levin.
riet Tubman’s parentsA was forwarded to agent Sydney H. Gay in New York City. was his own lost L Enraged by her actions, Griffith sold the two boys to 28 lived and where Harriet He eventually made his way to St. Catharines, Ontario, brother Peter, slave traders from Kentucky. After joining her husband
herself conductedY sev- who had been D Canada, where Harriet Tubman, her brothers and many R in New Jersey, Sidney renamed herself Charity, and the
Y eral of her most famousR sent to Alabama N others from Maryland’s Eastern Shore were settling into O R
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29 Caroline Courthouse Historic Denton is the 30 Choptank River Heritage Center Taken Caroline County seat. You D Barrier or « R « R Courthouse Square, Denton, MD 21629 E R 10219 River Landing Road, Denton, MD 21629 will find food and kiosks with V
I E Passage Although reconstructed after the Civil War, the In 1853, African American residents celebrated the R 410-479-0655 maps and visitor information, V escape and return of Richard Potter, a free black youth, 328 I The Choptank River courthouse’s place in the middle of town is symbolic street parking, fuel, and R When Moses Viney learned he might be sold by his
of the central role it played in the past. The courthouse who had been kidnapped by a boat captain to be restaurants. 31 K played a role in the master to the Deep South, he and two friends escaped N sold as a slave. Punishments for “stealing M EE history of slavery as much symbolized white legal, political, economic and social T A on Easter morning in April 1840. The trio’s greatest IN T slaves” or “enticing slaves away” or The Choptank River Heritage G power during the antebellum period. A slave market was H P as any plantation field. At natural challenge was crossing the Choptank River. O U Center (right page) houses S O outright kidnapping included long E this point it wasT still wide located here, where slaves were auctioned to buyers and D R H S The plantation’s hounds were on their trail, trapping D h exhibits, maps, and the R C t prison terms, heavy fines, and E and deep enough 6 to serve traders. Courthouse Square was also the site of the jail G N the men on the bank, but Moses relied on a carefully D Caroline Office of Tourism. I 30 confiscation of property. R as a barrier to escape for where captured runaways and Underground Railroad B made plan. Months before leaving, he fed those dogs 619 W RD 404 E G freedom seekers. The conductors were held. N IN well and treated them kindly. When they charged him, ND LA 29 ER MA challenges they faced in RIV RK Moses stepped forward and calmly ordered them home. ET ST trying GAto ford or cross DENTON Y ST Recognizing their friend, the dogs turned back. waterways or hide away
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Courthouse Square contains 313 an exhibit about the life of RIDGELY Harriet C Harriet ARTER Tubman Harriet Tubman and the role AVE 404 Tubman Underground Underground Railroad of the Underground Railroad RD LEGION Railroad Byway in African American life in Byway Driving Tour Driving Tour Guide Caroline County. Guide 36 37 Site Nearby History Site
31 Tuckahoe Neck Meeting House: 32 Tuckahoe Neck Meeting House You will find parking, fuel, Adkins Arboretum Meeting House Road, Denton, MD 21629 accommodations, restrooms 12610 Eveland Road, Ridgely, MD 21660 Built in 1803, this was one of five Quaker meeting and restaurants in the area and 410-634-2847 houses in Caroline County whose members sustained in downtown Denton. www.adkinsarboretum.org a local Underground Railroad network. Quakers also Adkins Arboretum is a 440-acre garden and preserve supported women’s equality and the end of slavery. By dedicated to promoting the appreciation and 1790, Quaker meetings on Maryland’s Eastern Shore conservation of the region’s native plants. Walking were free of all slave owners. Quakers then became some along streams, over wetlands, and through woodlands of the earliest and most effective activists to end slavery allows visitors to experience the kinds of landscapes in America and abroad. They quickly began establishing that freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad a loose network of like-minded individuals who could passed through on their way north. The arboretum be tapped to help escaping slaves find their way north, offers programs year round in ecology, horticulture and and to provide support and shelter once they arrived. « Rights for Women natural history for all ages, including special programs Abolitionist, Hannah Leverton, from the Linchester Mill Quakers were at the forefront of the fledgling Women’s relating to survival strategies used by fleeing slaves. area spoke here. 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 Harriet Harriet Tubman through them, she would become involved with the The Arboretum offers an Tubman Underground Underground Railroad women’s suffrage campaigns of the 19th and early 20th audio tour of the Underground Railroad Byway Railroad, as well as other family Byway Driving Tour centuries. Driving Tour Guide programming. Guide 38 39 Site History Nearby Site
33 There is roadside parking in 34 Greensboro Greensboro. You will also Red Bridges North Main Street and Cedar Lane, Greensboro, MD 21639 find fuel, restaurants, and Red Bridges Road, Greensboro, MD 21639 In 1797, Greensboro resident Peter Harrington was restrooms. While freedom seekers traveling north were tempted president of the Choptank Abolition Society, formed to use bridges, they usually avoided them, as the threat to promote the end of slavery in Maryland. Supported Red Bridges (right page) has of recapture was high. This stream at the headwaters of by Quakers, some Methodists, and others, regional a picnic area with places to the Choptank River was possibly near Harriet Tubman’s societies like this worked on the local level. Petitions fish and launch small craft. Underground Railroad route to Sandtown, Delaware. to the Maryland House of Delegates first focused on The current at this location is fast, yet the water is the trafficking of slaves and demanded an end to the shallow. exportation of slaves and free people of color. Freedom seekers who followed the Choptank River The northernmost bridge over the Choptank River to Delaware may have crossed here and at other shallow was located here. Produce and timber products were tributaries near the Choptank’s headwaters. Like Harriet Moving On delivered and shipped to ports near and far, along well « Tubman, fugitives relied heavily on the secret network of traveled roads to Delaware and beyond. Through these In 1849, the year Harriet Tubman escaped, scores safe houses belonging to blacks and whites throughout trade activities, Greensboro residents learned about of freedom seekers fled nearby Talbot County. The central and northern Delaware. Harriet Tubman later religious revivalism, democracy, abolition and other slaveholders knew many were moving through Caroline told historian Wilbur Siebert that her preferred route new ideas. County on their way to Delaware and beyond. Some of was by way of her parents' home in Poplar Neck, to them, no doubt, passed near here. In August 1852, two Sandtown across the Maryland border. Quakers and men from Sandtown, Delaware, tried to entice a slave a large free black population helped hide and escort named Tom to escape. Tom informed his master, and an people through Delaware. ambush was set to capture the two men in Greensboro. Harriet Harriet Tubman News reports suggested that the men were going to Tubman Underground kidnap Tom and sell him to the Deep South. Underground Railroad Railroad Byway Byway Driving Tour Driving Tour Guide Guide 40 41 Site History Nearby
35 The Maryland portion Delaware State Line of the Harriet Tubman Sandtown Road, Goldsboro, MD 21636 “I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad Freedom seekers reaching Sandtown still risked Byway ends here. Visitors recapture, but they were well on their way to freedom. can pick up the Harriet Underground Railroad for Fleeing slaves still had 75 miles before they reached the Tubman Underground free state of Pennsylvania. The road through Sandtown Railroad Byway through would take them through Willow Grove, where Quaker Delaware, and learn more eight years, and I can say Henry Cowgill and his family lived. Then they would about the people, places and events that shaped the venture to Camden, where free blacks Nathaniel and struggles for freedom in the what most conductors can’t William Brinkley joined forces with Abraham Gibbs to region. carry fugitives farther north. Freedom seekers would journey past Dover and Smyrna to Blackbird, where say – I never ran my train other Underground Railroad operators took charge of them. The fugitives were sent over or around the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal to New Castle and « Mason-Dixon Line off the track and I never lost other towns outside of Wilmington, where Harriet The Mason-Dixon Line was surveyed between 1763 Tubman’s friend, Quaker Thomas Garrett, lived and and 1767 by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in the a passenger.” who is credited with aiding over 2,500 fugitives reach resolution of a border dispute between British colonies freedom. in Colonial America. It forms part of the borders of —Harriet Tubman at a suffrage convention in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia Rochester, NY. 1896 - Sarah Bradford, Harriet, (then part of Virginia). It was not the demarcation line Harriet Harriet Tubman for the legality of slavery, however, since Delaware, a The Moses of Her People. 1901 Tubman Underground Underground Railroad slave state, falls north and east of the boundary. Railroad Byway Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Byway Driving Tour Driving Tour Guide Guide 42 43 Welcome! We’re glad that you have chosen to explore the distinctive landscapes where Harriet Tubman was born into slavery, escaped from bondage, and returned repeatedly to guide others to freedom. Whether touring by motor coach, kayak, bicycle, or family car, you will discover stories of bravery, determination, and resourcefulness. Allow yourself to be transported back in time as you reflect on the lives of these extraordinary people who operated the secret network called the Underground Railroad. Pick up your copy of the companion audio guide for this tour at the Dorchester County Visitor Center, or download it from our website www. HarrietTubmanByway.com. Access our smart phone app! Search "Harriet Tubman Byway" in iTunes and Google Play or go to http://tubman.toursphere. com on your phone. We hope that you enjoy your journey and that you come back again to visit. www.HarrietTubmanByway.com