Stand at the base of a towering mountain in one of Pennsylvania’s beautiful forested regions and ask yourself, how did these people make it? How did they make it through the wind, and the rain and the snow? There were no road maps to guide them, no AAA TripTiks. They called upon the kindness of strangers, and in most cases, had to fend for themselves. The road to freedom was a long, hard road.
Follow in the footsteps of America’s courageous freedom seekers and experience the triumph of the human spirit over slavery. When you visit western Pennsylvania, you’ll hear fascinating stories about local freedom fighters, narrow escapes and communities where it was safe to stay for a while.
But in the same way fog envelops a town, the Underground Railroad is clouded by myth and obscured by legend. Neither underground nor a railroad, it was a network to help slaves escape to freedom. Sometimes spontaneous, sometimes highly organized, it drew people together for a common purpose. In many cases, freedom seekers lived and worked openly in free black neighborhoods near places like the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Meadville; in the Jerusalem area of Erie; and in the forested region of Little Africa, near Sugar Grove.
Western Pennsylvania’s freedom trail connects to a much larger network that links West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Canada. In this guide are some important places you won’t want to miss.
So come along. Stow away on a Great Lakes steamship. Hunker down in a hand-made canoe. Slip aboard a three-masted schooner. Freedom is just hours away!
PA Underground Railroad Colloquium Partnership