Learning about the Underground Railroad on the Harriet Tubman Trail in Delaware

The November release of the movie Harriet reawakened interest in heroic Harriet Tubman, a former slave who helped her family and others escape slavery in the south before the Civil War. Children will learn about the Underground Railroad in school, but a newly designated historic route in Delaware, the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway, brings it to life along the same route used by Tubman and the slaves she led to freedom.

As it follows their perilous journey, the byway leads through landscapes that changed little since that time, such as Blackbird State Forest, known to escapees as “Blackbird” and one of their key landmarks on the journey north. You can stop in the 6,000-acre state park and follow some of the 40 miles of trails across terrain escaping slaves traveled.

The byway leads to other landmarks and homes of abolitionists who helped refugees by providing food, shoes and safe hiding places. Even in the north, helping or harboring runaway slaves was illegal, the Underground Railway “stations” were kept secret and knowledge of their locations died with the abolitionists who were the Railroad’s “conductors.”

But some are known, including The Corbit-Sharp House, the 1774 mansion of a Quaker family in the historic town of Odessa, where a number of Quakers, abolitionists and free blacks lived. After visiting the house, take time to stroll through the restored garden.

The Historic Courthouse in New Castle, Delaware. Photo: Stillman Rogers.

Two of the best-known Underground Railroad stationmasters lived in New Castle and were known publicly, even at the time, because of a three-year court case. In 1848 Abolitionists Thomas Garrett and John Hunn were sued in federal court for violating the Fugitive Slave Act by helping a family escape. They were convicted and fined heavily, losing their homes and businesses as a result, but continued their work to assist runaway slaves. The New Castle Court House was the scene of the trial and today it is a museum with exhibits on the Underground Railroad.

A statue of Harriet Tubman and Thomas Garrett stands in the Tubman-Garrett Riverfront Park on the banks of the Christiana River in Wilmington, at one of the Underground Railroad’s major crossing points. Called “Unwavering Courage in the Pursuit of Freedom,” the statue commemorates Tubman’s determination to get her family out of slavery and Garrett’s help in financing their and others’ escape.

All these Underground Railroad sites in Delaware are in or close to Wilmington, which makes a good base for exploring this era in America’s history.