Results tagged “Underground Railroad” from York Town Square

Crispus Attucks Association's Cindy Leiphart can be seen in a room in the former home of William C. Goodridge that was reportedly used to hide fugitive slaves as part of the Underground Railroad. A hole in the floor above the room was formerly covered by a trapdoor. Background posts: Stack of books on York County's Civil War past getting higher and Research needed to unearth Underground Railroad in York County - Part I and 10 years ago, York's exclusive Lafayette Club became less exclusive, Part III.

The life and times of William C. Goodridge's former slave who became a successful 19th-century York businessman were filled with controversy.

He and his family developed national applause despite - or maybe because of - these obstacles.

I made that point in an upcoming York Sunday News column (3/01/09) and urge readers to get behind efforts to create a Goodridge Freedom House and Underground Railroad Museum in Goodridge's former residence.

In addition to honoring this community leader, the museum could become a center for studying York County's still-obscure Underground Railroad history... .

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Cyrus Griest, an agent in the Underground Railroad and his wife are buried with other abolitionist Quakers in the Menallen Friends Meetinghouse, Adams County. Quakers in Adams and York counties were known to aid fugitives traveling along the Underground Railroad. Background posts: York's Goodridge House listed as site on Underground Railroad network, Research needed to unearth Underground Railroad in York County, Part II and Amanda Berry Smith: 'God's image carved in ebony'.

Debra Sandoe McCauslin is doing much to put facts behind Underground Railroad legends.

Her most recent efforts have produced a book exploring Yellow Hill, a black community in Adams County that served as a destination point for fugitives who had crossed the Mason-Dixon Line in an attempt to gain their freedom... .

Crispus Attucks' Cindy Leiphart is surrounded by a dirt room beneath the floor in the William C. Goodridge house in York. Fugitives may have used a trapdoor in the kitchen floor to hide in this room, part of the Underground Railroad. Background posts: Research needed to unearth Underground Railroad, Part II, 10 years ago, York's exclusive Lafayette Club became less exclusive, Part II , William C. Goodridge: From slavery to success story

Efforts to turn the home of William C. Goodridge into an Underground Railroad museum are sitting on a siding while sponsors are searching for funds.

But a recent York Daily Record/Sunday News story telling about these funding woes revealed that the site is listed with the National Park Service's National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.

That means that there has been some outside-the-county scrutiny of the home of Goodridge - a former slave who became a successful 19th-century York businessman -as an Underground Railroad site.

It appears to be the only site in York County to be so listed... .

Slaves escaped from the South through any number of means - draymen's carts, family carriages and funeral processions. This drawing shows a particularly ingenious way of escape. Henry "Box" Brown was nailed into a small box and shipped from Richmond, Va., to Philadelphia. A woman similarly escaped from Baltimore to York County, Pa., in 1845. (See a replica of the box below.) Background posts: Research needed to unearth Underground Railroad in York County, Part I, 10 years ago, York's exclusive Lafayette Club became less exclusive, Part II and York County straddled the Mason-Dixon line in Lincoln votes.

While specifics about the Underground Railroad in York County are foggy, almost by definition, certain generalizations about its functioning in York County are clear.

York County Heritage Trust researchers have put together a myth and reality chart as part of an exhibit that will be helpful in understanding the Underground Railroad and slavery.

These will help add understanding about these often-misunderstood topics:

A crawl space is hidden behind a pantry shelf at the Dobbins House in Gettysburg, Pa. Manequins demonstrate how fugitives might have hidden there as part of the Underground Railroad. Background posts: Amanda Berry Smith: 'God's image carved in ebony', York/Adams' interest in Underground Railroad grows, and Living historians bring spotlight to York's Civil War story.

A local historical group's e-mail recently posed a good question: What is known about the Underground Railroad in Southern York County?

I answered that not a lot is known about the Underground Railroad anywhere in York County. It's an area that begs research with academic rigor... .

Artist Lewis Miller captures members of the black community celebrating after receiving news of the Emancipation Proclamation. (Courtesy, York County Heritage Trust.)

Underground Railroad enthusiasts will have two opportunities to learn more about that network that led many fugitives to freedom through York and Adams counties.

Organizers of the Goodridge Freedom House in York plan an Emancipation Proclamation Celebration from 2-5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8. Ex-slave William C. Goodridge's former residence on East Philadelphia Street is being developed as a museum. When completed, it will be officially known as the William C. Goodridge Freedom House and Underground Railroad Museum.

Goodridge was a 19th-century York businessman whose home, business properties and rail line are believed to have been part of the Underground Railroad.

In Adams County, Underground Railroad Tours of Adams County will be conducted on Gettysburg Tour Center buses and vans Saturdays through the fall... .

Ann Small Niess, resident of the Elmwood Mansion from 1923-1947, writes about the intriguing East York structure in a book released this week. The mansion now serves as a conference center for Memorial Hospital. For story, see grand tour.

The Elmwood House has long been one of York's most interesting mansions.
It is reported to have an Underground Railroad past. Gray soldiers camped on its grounds during the Confederate occupation of York. Happenings there have spawned ghost stories.

It was long the home of one of York's most prominent families -- the Smalls.

Now, longtime resident there, Ann Small Niess, has authored a 146-page book detailing the house from the inside out. It's available at Memorial Hospital's gift shop.

Ann Small Niess is still looking to plug a hole in the book. When was the house moved from its original location in the vicinity of present-day Memorial Hospital to where it sits today near Interstate 83? It was moved intact on greased logs in the early 1900s, and set on a pre-excavated basement.

I'll blog further on the book, but wanted to get its availability out as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, here's insight about how to move a house: ...

The York Water Company initially used 10,000 feet of bored logs to transport water to users after it had flowed from springs near Baumgartner's Woods to a reservoir in southeast York.

So, the arch near Arch Street turned out to be a sewer line.

A big sewer line. (See http://www.ydr.com/newsfull/ci_4885322 and York's rail stations scored moments in history.)

And no, it didn't connect with the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad, believed to be active in York, did not run underground. Those traveling just seemed to disappear that way when the trail of runaways grew cold with slavecatchers from the South on their heels... .