Freedom Road

Mercer County, PA

Marker Text: In search of freedom, men and women brought from the South by the "Underground Railroad" settled near here about 1825 and later. After 1850, most of them went on to Canada. Their cemetery, still in use, lies a short distance above the road.

Location: On U.S. Route 62 southeast of Stoneboro, PA, southwest of Sandy Lake across from the Stoneboro Fairgrounds. Erected by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in 1947.

Marker next to Route 62 with Stoneboro Fairgrounds in the background.  Click any photo to enlarge.

  The location of this marker indicates the former presence of a old African-American community and the remains of an old cemetery left behind by this community dating back between 1825 to 1850. This marker is related to other markers informing the traveler to the early efforts to establish an underground railroad for escaping slaves.

  In 1820, the Pennsylvania legislature adopted a personal liberty law that aimed to protect African-American residents from being kidnapped by southern slave catchers. This law was amended and strengthened in 1826. Following these changes, free African-Americans or escaped slaves felt more confident residing in Pennsylvania.

Richard Henderson

Crawford County, PA

Marker Text: Born a slave in Maryland in 1801, he escaped as a boy and about 1824 came to Meadville. A barber, he was long active in the Underground Railroad. His Arch Street house, since torn down, is estimated to have harbored some 500 runaway slaves prior to the Civil War.

Location: At the corner of Liberty and Arch Streets, next to Bethel AME Church, Meadville, PA.  Erected by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in 1980.

  When the Richard Henderson marker above was approved in 1980, it represented only the third time a African American Pennsylvanian had been honored by a state historical marker.

Bethel A.M.E. Church is on the left of the marker and faces Liberty Street, Arch Street is on the right. Click any photo to enlarge.

  According to Meadville tradition, Richard Henderson was the first permanent black resident of Meadville. Richard had escaped from slavery at the age of 15 with his two brothers and a sister. The brothers survived, but the sister died after catching pneumonia during the journey. One of the Henderson brothers continued north to Canada. The other two, Richard and Robert, established a barbershop in town.

  Richard Henderson's residence was located near this marker according to a 1875 Meadville map his home would have been across the street from the church about three houses east of the church on Arch Street. His home operated as a station along the Underground Railroad and is estimated to have aided some 500 runaway slaves.

Arch Street is on the right and according to 1875 map, Henderson’s home would have been located approximately where the yellow house is across from the church in the photo.

  While his brother Robert eventually left to establish his own barbershop in nearby Brookville, Richard remained in Meadville. There, he was a leader in the local Underground Railroad network from the 1830s to the 1860s. Abolitionist John Brown lived north of Meadville until 1835 and did came to Meadville often. He helped to establish other stations for the Underground Railroad in the surrounding area. Though I did not find any specific evidence of a connection and it is very likely that John Brown and Richard Henderson knew each other in regard to Underground Railroad operations and may have learned from each other.

  Richard Henderson was a prominent member of the African American community, where he helped to form Meadville's Bethel A.M.E. Church in 1849 (where this marker is located) and served as an early trustee. Richard Henderson married twice. His second wife, Mary, was born in Erie, PA in 1821. Together they raised two sons, Edward and Lincoln. Edward Henderson recalled that he saw his parents provided shelter and a hiding place in their home for as many as twenty fugitives at a time. Richard Henderson died in 1880 at the age of 79 and is buried in Meadville.

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Underground Railroad Activity in Chambersburg

Franklin County, PA

Marker Text: Throughout the pre-Civil War period, there were a number of Underground Railroad "stations" in this area, temporary places of refuge for former slaves escaping through the mountainous terrain to freedom in the North. One local Underground Railroad agent was a free black barber, Henry Watson, who assisted fugitive slaves as they passed through Chambersburg, helping to keep them safe and undetected by the slave-catchers and bounty hunters searching for them.

Location: Main St. & U.S. Route 30 (Lincoln Highway), on the Northeast quadrant of the "diamond," in downtown Chambersburg. Erected by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in 2002.

  Today's marker is one of many historical markers related to the Underground Railroad, as it was to be called. Many communities in Pennsylvania were located just north of the Mason-Dixon line and were natural locations for involvement in the Underground Railroad movement.

  There would probably be hundreds of historical markers about the Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania, if we knew of their existence, therefore no historical markers will ever commemorate their actions. Maintaining records by the people involved about the activities of the Underground Railroad would have been potentially dangerous for the persons helping African-American slaves escape and the escapees themselves, so few records exist. Through later local stories told by residents following the Civil War and the limited number of records that were maintained, we today know about possible routes fugitive slaves would have followed on their journey. What appears clear, however, is that people with widely different backgrounds from across Pennsylvania contributed to the success of the Underground Railroad. They did so at considerable risk, but most remained surprisingly defiant despite the dangers.

John Brown's Tannery (Part 2)

Crawford County, PA

Marker Text:  John Brown of Ossawatomie and Harper's Ferry worked here as a tanner, 1825-35. The nearby house was then his home. His first wife and son are buried near.

Location:  On John Brown Road, a short distance south of PA Route 77, New Richmond, PA. (There is another marker same title on Route 77, just west of this road.) Erected by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in 1946.

Photo taken looking toward Route 77 with the path to the museum on the right.

  This is the second marker of two historical markers related to John Brown. (see Part 1) This marker is the older of the two and located on a secondary road across from the old tannery foundation. The newer one (1969) was probably erected to point people to this location, since you would not see this marker, unless you happened to drive this road or knew the tannery was here.

John Brown's Tannery (Part 1)

Crawford County, PA

Marker Text:  On the side road, a short distance south, are the remains of the tannery and home built by the noted abolitionist of Harper's Ferry fame. Here, he lived and worked from 1825 to 1835, employing as many as 15 men in producing leather.

Location: Twelve miles northeast of Meadville, PA following PA Route 77, just west of intersection with John Brown Road at New Richmond. Erected by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in 1969.

“Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life... and mingle my blood... with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I say, let it be done.” John Brown, 1859, before being sentenced to hang.

Photo taken looking southeast on Route 77 going toward Meadville, PA

  John Brown is most notably remembered as one of the nation’s greatest abolitionist’s, for his failed raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia in 1859 and his hanging in Charlestown, WV.  As all historical figures, they also had lives apart from what they are most notably remembered and shaped what was to come in the future.

  John Brown was a businessman, entrepreneur, community leader, civic minded, interested in the welfare of his neighbors and a respectable citizen during much of his life.

  If you read a short biography of John Brown's life, they may not mention or offer only a brief explanation that Brown ever lived in Crawford County, Pennsylvania in a small community called New Richmond (which he helped to start) northeast of Meadville, PA. They might also fail to mention that John Brown lived here south of where this marker is located longer than he lived anywhere else as an adult (1825-1835).