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Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway Driving Tour Guide Larry Hogan Governor Boyd K Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway Driving Tour Guide Larry Hogan Governor Boyd K. Rutherford Lt. Governor Maryland Office of Tourism World Trade Center 401 E. Pratt St., 14th Floor Baltimore, MD 21202 410 767-3400, Toll-Free: 877-333-4455 www.visitmaryland.org Managing Director | Liz Fitzsimmons Executive Editor | Anne Kyle Managing Editor | Brian Lawrence Art Director | Saundra Jones Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway Dorchester County Visitor Center 2 Rose Hill Place Cambridge, MD 21613 410 228-1000 www.harriettubmanbyway.org www.facebook.com/HarrietTubmanByway/ twitter.com/tubman_byway The Maryland section of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway is a designated All American Road, recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation as one of the best scenic driving routes in the country for its national significance. The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway Driving Tour Guide and Map was developed through a partnership between the Maryland Office of Tourism, Maryland Heritage Areas Authority, National Park Service, Dorchester County Tourism, Caroline County Tourism, Delaware Tourism Office, Delaware Department of Transportation, Greater Wilmington Convention and Visitors Bureau, Kent County & Greater Dover Convention and Visitors Bureau, and in alliance with Chester County Conference and Visitors Bureau. This project has been financed in part with State Funds from the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority, an instrumentality of the State of Maryland. However, the contents and opinions do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority. CONNECT WITH US www.facebook.com/TravelMD | twitter.com/travelmd | www.youtube.com/travelmd pinterest.com/visitmaryland | instagram.com/visitmaryland Cover photo Another Blackwater Sunset by Alexander Erkiletian | Cover artwork of Harriet Tubman by Calvin Coleman Printed on Recycled Paper 2 Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway Dear Friends, As Maryland’s Governor, I am proud to honor the enduring legacy of Harriet Tubman and her tireless work on behalf of many women and men whom she led to freedom. Through this guide, you can retrace her steps, visit key historic sites, and learn more about the woman whose steadfast belief in justice and equality helped to shape our nation. Among the stops on this driving tour is a visit to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, where you can experience a wilderness landscape nearly untouched since Tubman’s time. Visit the Bucktown Village Store, where Tubman made her first public act of defiance. See the historic Linchester Mill, a possible river crossing point for freedom seekers, and explore other places on Maryland’s Eastern Shore that were graced by Tubman and others who helped women and men find freedom on the Underground Railroad. While in the area, I also encourage you to visit the new Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center, where you can become a part of the fight for freedom experience through a number of informative exhibits. Learn about Harriet Tubman’s early years and her decision to join the resistance, as well as discover new information about the Underground Railroad and its place in Maryland’s history. A walking path outside the Visitor Center offers an ideal place for reflection. Maryland is a place rich in history, and we are excited to celebrate the life and tremendous contributions that Harriet Tubman not only made to Maryland, but to the world. Sincerely, Larry Hogan Governor 3 Site # Site Name Page Site # Site Name Page 22 Jacob and Hannah Leverton House 27 1 Dorchester County Visitor Center 6 23 Linchester Mill 28 2 Harriet Tubman Memorial Garden 7 24 Choptank Landing 29 3 Dorchester County Courthouse 8 25 Mount Pleasant Cemetery 30 4 Long Wharf 9 26 Jonestown 31 5 Harriet Tubman Museum 10 27 Webb Cabin 32 6 Stanley Institute 11 28 Gilpin Point 33 7 Church Creek/Whitehaven 12 29 William Still Family Interpretive Center 34 8 Malone’s Church 13 30 Caroline Courthouse 35 9 Madison 14 31 Moses Viney/Daniel Crouse Memorial Park 36 10 Joseph Stewart’s Canal/Parson’s Creek 15 32 Denton Steamboat Wharf 37 11 New Revived Church 16 33 Tuckahoe Neck Meeting House 38 12 Buttons Creek 17 34 Adkins Arboretum 39 13 Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad 18 State Park and Visitor Center 35 Greensboro 40 14 Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge 19 36 Red Bridges 41 15 Little Blackwater River 20 37 Willow Grove 42 16 Brodess Farm 21 38 First State Heritage Park/Old State House 43 17 Bucktown Village Store 22 39 Blackbird 44 18 Bestpitch Ferry Bridge 23 40 Corbit-Sharp House 45 19 Scott’s Chapel 24 41 New Castle Court House Museum 46 20 Pritchett Meredith Farm 25 42 Tubman Garrett Park 47 21 Faith Community United Methodist Church 26 43 Center for African American Heritage at 48 the Delaware History Museum 44 Independence Hall 49 45 William Still’s Last Residence 50 4 Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway WELCOME TO TUBMAN COUNTRY roads take you to Philadelphia, Tubman’s first destination once she found freedom. Born into slavery in Dorchester County, Maryland in 1822, Harriet Tubman made the fateful decision to While traveling, use the accompanying map to help you escape in 1849 when she was about to be sold at navigate. Download or stream the free Harriet Tubman auction. Traveling by night and hiding by day, she Underground Railroad Byway Audio Guide from traversed open fields, rivers, marshes and woodlands. www.harriettubmanbyway.org, or download the free Leaving Maryland, she headed northward through audio tour mobile app from Google Play or the Apple Delaware, eventually reaching Philadelphia and freedom. App Store. The audio tour corresponds with this guide and will enhance your experience through dramatic Soon, Tubman realized she didn’t feel free without her presentations of authentic Underground Railroad loved ones close by. Pained by their separation, she escape stories. A key at the top of each byway site lets returned to Maryland’s Eastern Shore about 13 times to you know which track(s) to play on the audio tour. rescue family members and friends.Tracked by slave catchers, Tubman risked her life to selflessly help more than 70 enslaved people find freedom. Many of these journeys ended in St. Catharine’s, Ontario where her charges were safely across an international border. In Maryland, many of the sites Today, this byway crosses a landscape that looks much are interpreted through byway like it did close to two centuries ago when Tubman was markers that are easily recognizable born and raised in slavery and risked her life for at a distance due to their signature freedom. It takes visitors to places where Tubman was shape. These markers can help you enslaved, and roughly follows one of her routes find your way and locate stops. northward, connecting sites where she rescued others, received assistance and found safety. Many of these sites Within this guide, icons on each page have been recognized by the National Underground indicate if the byway site has exhibits, programs or tours, Railroad Network to Freedom. and whether it is motor coach accessible. A National Park Service logo or National Underground Railroad Your journey tracing Tubman’s travels is about to begin. Network to Freedom logo tells you that site is a Along the way you will find interpretive markers, audio National Park Service site or a member of the National tour stops, exhibits, museums, historic structures and Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Sites with more that help the stories come to life. As you byway markers are indicated with a Byway Marker label encounter these places, allow yourself to be transported next to their name. While most sites have a place to back to another time and reflect on the lives of these pull over and stop, a few sites have drive-by access only. ordinary people who did extraordinary things in pursuit These sites are depicted with a gold square on the maps, of freedom. rather than a red circle. Getting Your Bearings See the legend below for more information. The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Network to Audio Tour Exhibits Byway travels 125 miles Freedom Member through the Eastern Shore of Maryland before crossing Motor Coach Programs & Tours into Delaware at Sandtown. It continues for another 98 no public pull-off miles, connecting through access access Dover to Wilmington. Our route then follows the Brandywine Valley Scenic Byway into Pennsylvania where highways and local 5 1 Dorchester County Visitor Center 2 Rose Hill Place BYWAY Cambridge, MD 21613 MARKER 410 228-1000 www.VisitDorchester.org Track 1a. Also listen Interior to 1b while driving Exhibits to Site 2: Harriet Tubman Memorial Garden Overlooking the Choptank River, the Dorchester County Visitor Center is the perfect place to begin your byway adventure. Inside the center, an exhibit provides background information on Harriet Tubman and Underground Railroad activity in the area. Knowledgeable staff can assist you in planning your tour and will provide information on events, accommodations, dining opportunities, shopping, and outdoor experiences. Dorchester’s Roots In 1608, English Captain John Smith met Native Americans here when he explored the Chesapeake Bay. As the colony flourished, so did demand for cheap labor. In 1664, the General Assembly codified a system of slavery Dorchester County Visitor Center at Sailwinds Park East is designed to recall the heyday of sail, that for 200 years supported an when schooners, clippers, and fleets of oyster boats plied the Chesapeake Bay. economy based on the labor of enslaved workers. In time, Dorchester’s proximity to free states made it a hotbed of Next Site Underground Railroad activity, until Return to Route 50, via Maryland Avenue. Turn emancipation came to Maryland slaves at right/east on Route 50, the end of the Civil War in 1864.
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