The International Memorial to the Underground Railroad

Detroit Michigan became a well-known destination along the Underground Railroad, due in large part to its proximity to Canada. Slavery was outlawed in Canada in 1833 and many American slaves seeking freedom sought refuge in that country.

By the 1830s, ...

The Underground Railroad and Precursors to War

Among the events in the 1850s that helped drive the nation into civil war, the Christiana Riot put a controversial new law to a bloody test. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 ordered federal officers to arrest suspected runaway slaves; ...

Madison's Riverfront / Underground Railroad

[Side A:]

Madison’s Riverfront

Once a bustling commercial and industrial area,

Madison’s riverfront has greatly changed since the

City’s founding in 1809. On these banks stood

factories, mills, hotels and taverns, typical of a

busy river port on the frontier. Annual flooding

has forced the move to ...

The Underground Railroad / The Underground Railroad in Pickaway

The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad was neither underground nor a railroad, but a system of loosely connected safe havens where those escaping the brutal conditions of slavery were sheltered, fed, clothed, nursed, concealed, disguised, and instructed during their journey to ...

The Wright House and the Underground Railroad/Old Main Street

The Wright House and the Underground Railroad

In the early 1800s, Jabez Wright, an early Huron County judge, purchased a large tract of lakeside land on the north side of what is now Cleveland Road. There Wright built an eight-room farmhouse ...

Muskingum River Underground Railroad / Marietta Leaders of the U

Muskingtum River Underground Railroad

People living in Marietta and along the Muskingum River shared a history of slavery opposition. Manasseh Cutler, from Massachusetts and an Ohio Land Company agent, helped draft the Ordinance of 1787 that prohibited slavery in the Northwest ...

Underground Railroad Route

Escaping slaves traveling to Canada on the Covington Route crossed the road here on their way to meet LeRoy's conductor, Daniel McDonald, known as the "Medicine Man." His station was near the Keeney Road Cemetery.

Marker is on Keeney Road 0.1 ...

The Underground Railroad / Black Conductors of Columbus

The Underground Railroad was neither underground nor a

railroad, but a system of loosely connected safe havens

where those escaping the brutal conditions of slavery

were sheltered, fed, clothed, nursed, concealed, disguised,

and instructed during their journey to freedom. Although

this movement was one of ...

Underground Railroad Station

36 Lispenard Street

On September 3, 1838, human-rights activist Frederick Douglass escaped slavery in Maryland by disguising himself as a sailor and traveling North by carriage, train and boat. A few days later he arrived at 36 Lispenard Street, then ...

Underground Railroad Crossings / Near Border War

Underground Railroad Crossings

Underground Railroad crossings, agents, and conductors were common along the Ohio River between Washington County, Ohio and Wood County, Virginia. At Constitution, six miles upriver from Belpre, Judge Ephraim Cutler listened for hoot owl calls that signaled ...