Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway

This is somewhat different content than usual, that I hope will be of interest to our many lurkers and commenters.

This week, there are Public Workshops being held to get public input to complete the application to DelDOT for this historic designation. You can see the application and a map of the byway here. The Underground Railroad Coalition of Delaware (UGRCD), working with the University of Delaware’s Center for Historic Architecture and Design have been responsible for developing the application and for the Workshops. The workshops are being held on these days:

• November 11 at the Old State House Museum at The Green, Dover

• November 13 at the New Castle Court House State Museum on 211 Delaware Street in the City of New Castle

Both meetings are from 4 – 7PM.

Many Delawareans are not aware that this state was key ground in the operation of the Underground Railroad.  It is an amazing history well worth preserving and telling — this adds to Delaware’s rich history and adds another attraction for the state’s Tourist industry.  In addition, should the application be approved, may of the identified key sites and neighborhoods along the Byway will benefit from some additional preservation and promotion activity.

I’ll outsource the rest of the story to the WILMAPCO Press Release:

Before the Civil War, African American Freedom Seekers fled north to freedom through a combination of people and landscapes that became known as the “Underground Railroad.” As the last slave state, Delaware was a critical leg to freedom.

Harriet Tubman and other “conductors” led, more than 3,000 Freedom Seekers through Delaware. Wilmington Quaker, Thomas Garrett, was influential on orchestrating the Underground Railroad network in Delaware through organization of members and safe locations.

The proposed HTUR Byway begins at the Maryland state line in west-central Kent County and continuing to Camden, Dover, Odessa, and along the coastline to Wilmington. From there it continues north into Pennsylvania near Longwood Gardens.

This announcement is a bit out of the way from the usual political content here, but this is a great opportunity for Delaware (and I think that this Byway links up to or comes close to the one on the MD Eastern Shore) and an important piece of history to be preserved. I’ve seen David Ames give this presentation before and it is a riveting discussion. Hope that lots of our readers will get a chance to go to this.