Prince George’s African American residents have played a crucial role in the development of the region, 但是几个世纪以来, these impactful community members were forced into slavery. 的 Underground Railroad was an avenue through which many enslaved people sought self-emancipation — and Maryland was home to key portions of these routes to freedom.
While Prince George’s was often a place from which enslaved people escaped, rather than ran toward, the region had close and constant ties to this powerful underground system. 通过 National Park Service Network to Freedom, many of these sites have been investigated and protected.
Visit one of these historic sites in Prince George’s to learn more about its connection to communities of enslaved people and the Underground Railroad:
- 在 Marietta House Museum 在格伦戴尔, you’ll find a replica of the home and land where multiple generations of both free and enslaved families lived and labored. 的 600-acre property shows how these families lived through the Federal Era, the Antebellum years, 南北战争, 吉姆克劳, and Reconstruction. 的 library in the museum holds an extensive collection of county census 记录, 奴隶的统计数据, 记录, and newspaper archives.
- 在鲍伊， Belair大厦 offers a look into life in the region from 1747 through 1950. This 18th-century house was once home to two Maryland governors and a noted 20th-century Thoroughbred owner, and it is now home to an array of historic objects. Historians have found 记录 of numerous enslaved people who have moved through or interacted with the house.
- 的 Northampton Plantation and Slave Quarters in Bowie was owned by the Sprigg family from 1800 to 1830, and it has since been rebuilt to show the foundations of two slave quarters. Visitors will find detailed information at the site about the lives of the enslaved people who lived on the land for nearly 200 years, the many people who escaped from the plantation, and the free descendants who lived on it through 1940.
- 一趟旅行 Riversdale House Museum will transport you back into the daily life of residents in the early 1800s. This Federal-period manor and gardens offers tours to the public, bringing to life the stories of enslaved and free African Americans.
- Darnall’s Chance House Museum was built in 1742 and opened as a museum in 1988. It served as the home for many tobacco merchants, and it now conveys to visitors the details of life for colonial women, including free and enslaved residents. Historians have found 记录 of multiple enslaved people who escaped Darnall’s Chance.
- 在 Elizabeth 凯克 Burial Site, you’ll learn about 凯克’s efforts to support newly emancipated people. Aiding previously enslaved people who sought refuge in the Washington, D.C.,面积. She raised funds and collected donations to benefit the community.
- 了解 普卢默家庭 when you visit the Riversdale Historical Society. Plummer was moved from a plantation in Calvert to the region, and his diaries provide a unique and powerful look into the time.
- Enslaved people worked for decades at the plantation once on the grounds of the Mount Calvert Historical and Archaeological Park. 的 owner of the plantation listed advertisements in the local paper for enslaved people who had run away from the land. Today, you’ll find remnants of over 8,000 years of human history at the site.
- 的 Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm were once home to the Berry Farm, where enslaved workers completed back-breaking labor to cultivate crops. At least one person is known to have escaped from the farm, and the owner placed advertisements to attempt to find the person.
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