The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 114

22 Friday, February 4, 1994 The Philadelphia Inquirer Friday, February 4, 1994 The Philadelphia Inquirer 23 TO BE FREE Underground Railroad stations: Reminders of perilous journeys v- 2 1 I It Hnv '((inriniti I'' I jtltj I fill! iiZi I j.l- I 6 il fumy I wmk i. -r-iir. Mirii i i rr err 't- For The Inquirer DAVID SWANSON in Lionville was a station on the Underground Railroad. Today it is Vickers Tavern. napping of a black woman by slave traders and the successful kidnapping of a black girl.

Made of fieldstone from local quarries, the house still looks as it did in the 1800s, with much of the original woodwork. This month, the children's room in the library has a shelf of books about black history, including the" Underground Railroad. Phone: 610-269-2741. i 'I 1,1 W- FA i o. Vickers Tavern.

In 1823, Quaker potter John Vickers bought "5 acres and 66 perches" for $800. His homestead, now Vickers Tavern on Gordon Drive, off Route 100 in Lionville, near Exton, was a heavily used station. Vickers hid slaves in the kiln and in piles of fresh-cut cordwood. After the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law made Underground Railroad work more dangerous, Vickers sent runaways to a black couple who rented a i 1 i i 1 A few remain, keeping the history alive. By Constance Carcia-Barrio FOR THE INQUIRER They crammed into crawl spaces, crouched in springhouses and climbed into kilns.

Some stayed for hours, others for days. All stopped on their way to the same destination: freedom. On the Underground Railroad, a secret network of blacks and whites who helped fleeing slaves, everyone played for keeps: the escapees, the station masters harboring them and the slave catchers who pursued them. No one can pinpoint when the Underground Railroad began. The movement was helping slaves travel north by the 1830s, although former slaves and abolitionists may have been working together to set others free years before that.

It continued until the Civil War. Events of that era are still gripping, driven home by the physical spaces that in some cases remain intact and are open to the public. Visit old Underground Railroad stations and you'll see some places where slaves hid. You'll sense their determination, their terror. Look at the furnishings and you'll get a sense of the comfortable lives that some risked to help them.

Aiding fugitive slaves was illegal. If caught, station masters railroad lingo was used as part of the secret code, with safe houses referred to as "stations," their owners known as "station masters" and house-to-house escorts called "conductors" could face jail, fines and mob violence. Some station masters were so careful that their names may never come to light. Finding Underground Railroad stations now, historians say, is a bit like hunting the Loch Ness monster. There are tales aplenty, but the real thing is elusive.

Every root cellar hid fugitives, judging by the plethora of stories. There may be truth to some of them. Crucial Underground Railroad routes ran through New Jersey, notes Giles Wright, director of the Afro-American Program for the New Jersey Historical Commission. Some buildings in Camden and Burlington Counties probably were Underground Railroad stations, but not enough documentation has been found to be sure. Many fugitives took the ferry from Philadelphia to Camden, where the aquarium is now.

They may have gone on to houses in the nearby black community of Lawn-side, Wright said, but again, the documentation old diaries, newspapers, court records, books and other sources is lacking. Take the wrecking ball into account, and the number of sites drops further. Only a marker at 333 Shipley St in Wilmington stands near the place where Quaker hardware merchant Thomas Garrett Gar- For The Inquirer DAVID SWANSON Vickers place, where they hid in a crawl space until it was safe to move this wall remains. William Still wrote a book about the railroad in 1872. He is featured in a Historical Society exhibit that puts the antislavery movement in perspective.

Other Underground Railroad stations are farther afield: Wright's Ferry Mansion. Abolitionist William Wright had become a station master in Lancaster County by 1804. When the house he lived in at Second and Cherry Streets in Columbia was restored some years ago, an 1829 antislavery pamphlet was found in a wall. Slave manacles were discovered in the attic. The 1738 building reflects the sophistication of its original owner, Susanna Wright, an acquaintance of Benjamin Franklin.

The mansion is open May through October only. Phone: 717-6844325. Dobbin House. The Rev. Alexander Dobbin, a pudgy Scotsman, built a house in 1776 in Gettysburg, just north of the Mason-Dixon line.

After he died in 1809, his son Matthew added a story over the kitchen with sliding shelves in a staircase that covered a crawl space large enough for several people on the Underground Railroad. The Dobbin House, now a restaurant, has been restored to its original look. A small museum includes items from the late 1700s, as well as a wax figures showing how runaways were hidden. Dinner, moderately priced, is served by staff in colonial dress in the dining room seven days a week; the tavern serves lunch and dinner daily. Dobbin House is at 89 Steinwehr Ave.

between Baltimore Street and Taneytown Road in Gettysburg. Phone: 717-334-2100. Dobbin House is adjacent to the Gettystown Inn, a Civil War-era bed and breakfast. on the Railroad Revisit the Past: With Sojourner Truth Presentation in poetry and song by writer-producer Priscilla Crumel at Mother Bethel AME Church, 419 S. Sixth 215-925-0616.

Next Sunday, Feb. 13, 2:30 to 4 p.m. Free. Marching to Zion: The Underground Railroad in South-Central Pennsylvania Lecture at the Hershey Museum, 170 W. Hershey Park Hershey; 717-534-3439.

Feb. 28 at 1 p.m. Free with museum admission of $4, $3.50 for seniors. The Underground Railroad in Adams County Mini-course at Dobbin House restaurant, 89 Steinwehr Ave. in Gettysburg; fa information call Gettysburg Community College, March 20 from 2 to 4 p.m.

$22. ''-v. ----fcY' 'J Slaves in flight could look back at the on. Of the barn on the property, only ten, who worked with Harriet Tubman, is said to have helped 2,700 slaves. Of the remaining Underground Railroad stations, many are private homes.

Some have markers, and can be located through county historical societies, which often have old newspapers and journal articles that residents wrote about their role in the movement. Still, Southeastern Pennsylvania has several Underground Railroad sites that you can visit. This was the closest free region for many slaves, although free did not necessarily mean secure. "The stretch from Pennsylvania to Canada was often more terrifying to runaways than the Southern stages because of spies, informers and patrollers, black and white," Charles L. Blockson wrote in The Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania.

A good place to start an exploration of the movement is at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, where an exhibit puts the antislavery movement in perspective. "Finding Philadelphia's Past: Visions and Revisions" includes documents written by William Still that became the basis for his 1872 book, The Underground Railroad. A key black Underground Railroad agent, Still kept meticulous records so family members could find one another later. Also on display are a slave harness, shackles and advertisements seeking the capture of runaway slaves. i house in the woods from him.

The living room, dining room and kitchen of Vickers' farmhouse have been preserved and decorated with period furnishings, including Vickers' pottery. You can see the door leading to a crawl space where Vickers hid escapees. The restaurant serves French and continental cuisine prices are expensive at lunch Mondays through Fridays and dinner Mondays through Saturdays (reservations suggested), Phone: 610-363-7998. Hopewell Furnace. The iron-making operation built in 1770 sits on the boundary of Berks and Chester Counties in Elverson.

In the 1830s, when Hopewell Furnace reached its peak, the ironmaster, Clement Brooke, was an abolitionist. Furnace account books show nameless blacks who worked only briefly, suggesting that Brooke may have employed fugitive slaves. They may have worked as charcoal burners or wood cutters. The National Park Service, which maintains Hopewell Furnace, interprets the Underground Railroad era and other periods here. Visitors may see exhibits on iron-making in the main building and take self-guided tours to see remnants of iron-making machinery.

On Sunday, Feb. 20, at 2 p.m., Emma Lapsansky, curator of the Quaker Collection at Haverford College, will lecture on African American life in the 1800s. Admission to the site, at 2 Mark Bird Lane, is free from December through February; a $2 fee is charged at other times. Hopewell is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

daily. Phone: 610-582773. Exhibits, lectures Celebration of Color At the West Chester Community Center, 501 E. Miner West Chester; 215-692-9290. Opening champagne reception for exhibition of Lee Carter's paintings, "Stations on the Underground Railroad," augmented by materials from Chester County Historical Society, plus Negro spirituals and African American worksongs performed by singer Kenneth Anderson and accompanist Sylvia Lee.

Sunday from 6 to 9 p.m. $12. Illustrated lecture about Chester County's role in the Underground Railroad by Beverly Sheppard, education director at the Chester County Historical Society. Tuesday at 7 p.m. Free.

Talk by artist Lee Carter about slavery, the Underground Railroad and his paintings. Wednesday at noon. $3. Quaker potter John Vickers' homestead belonged to the Free Labor Association, a group whose members refused to use goods or produce made with slave labor. A Black History Month photography exhibit in the library features black cemeteries in Delaware County.

Free tours of the library, at 76 S. State Rd. between West Chester Pike and Hazel Avenue, are given Mondays and Tuesdays by appointment Library hours are Mondays through Fridays 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturdays 9 am. to 5 p.m.

and Sundays 1:30 to 5 p.m. Phone: 610-7894440. Honeycomb Church. Many Underground Railroad stations were near black population centers. The Honeycomb Union African Methodist Episcopal Church in Lima, Delaware County, near what is now the Granite Run Mall, served a sizable community of free blacks.

They did more than pray about slavery. They concealed runaways briefly at the church, built in 1852. When Sunday services or midweek prayer meetings ended, fugitives blended in and left with the families providing shelter. Visitors are welcome at services on Sundays at 11 a.m. and at Wednesday evening prayer meeting and Bible study, 7:30 to 9 p.m.

at the church, 116 Van Leer Ave. off Route 352 in Lima. Phone: 610-566-2822 or 610-566-6382. Longwood Meeting. Many Quakers disagreed with antislavery activism.

In 1854, Quakers who were read out of disowned by their meetings because of their radical antislavery stance formed the Long-wood Meeting of Progressive Friends. Their meetinghouse, on Route 1 at the entrance to Longwood Gardens near Ken-nett Square in Chester County, now houses the Brandywine Valley Tourist Information Center. Such famous abolitionists as Sojourner Truth and Lucretia Mott spoke at this meetinghouse. A permanent exhibit, including photographs, maps and letters, tells the story of the Underground Railroad. Self-guided tours with historic interpretation of the site are available to groups.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Phone: 610-388-2900. Downingtown Public Library.

The library at 330 E. Lancaster Ave. probably became an Underground Railroad station in the 1840s. Zebulon Thomas built the house in 1800. He also owned the house across the street, 341 E.

Lancaster and built a connecting tunnel so he could move escapees between the houses. Thomas had need of such precautions: The house, a girls' boarding school in the 1840s, was the site of an. attempted kid? The Historical Society, at 1300 Locust is open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to p.m. and Wednesdays from 1 to 9 p.m.

Phone: 215-732-6200. Mother Bethel Church. Philadelphia's most important station on the Underground Railroad was Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, says historian Blockson, curator of Temple University's Afro-American Collection. The church, at 419 S. Sixth St.

between Pine and Lombard Streets, probably served as a station from the 1820s on. Founded in 1787 by the Rev. Richard Allen, a former slave, it is the oldest piece of real estate in the United States continuously owned by blacks. Mother Bethel hosted abolitionists' meetings, as well as the 1831 National Negro Convention. A basement museum spotlights the church's role in the Underground Railroad.

Sunday services at 10:45 a.m. are open to the public, and you can explore the church and exhibit for up to an hour after the service. The museum also may be visited between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays; calling ahead is advised.

Phone: 215-9250616. Johnson House. Abolitionist sentiment ran high in Germantown, a Quaker settlement and site of the country's first public protest against slavery, in 1688. Quaker tanner Samuel Johnson had made his John- son House, an Underground Railroad station by 1852 Built in 1768 at what is now 6306 German-town the house has its original pine floorboards, handblown glass windows, built-in shelves and indoor shutters. A springhouse and formal garden are on the property.

It is said that Johnson once rolled up a fugitive slave in a carpet, put him in a wagon, covered him with straw and took him to a Montgomery County farmer's house, the next stop. To arrange a visit, call 215-8430943. Sellars Public Library. This building in Upper Darby served as an Underground Railroad station from around the late 1830s to the Civil War. Built by Quaker leather worker John Sellars in 1823, the library then called Hoodland still has its original fireplaces and brick floor, as well as old-fashioned louvered shutters.

It's likely that runaways were hidden in the ice house, now torn down, rather than in Hoodland itself. When John Sellars died in 1847, his son-in-law, dry-goods merchant Abraham L. Pennock, became owner of Hoodland and carried on as station master. Pennock was a good friend of Edward Garrett, the brother of Wilmington station master Thomas Garrett, and the three men often worked together to route runaways through Southeastern Pennsylvania. Pen-no1 ck, whose portrait hangs in the iW "JT i.

I i 1 I Ml, III For The Inquirer DAVID SWANSON Zebulon Thomas' home, now the Downingtown library, was a station. He owned the house across the street and connected them with tunnel v..