Summer along the Harriet Tubman Byway to celebrate the abolitionist’s bicentennial birthday

Starting from Maryland’s eastern shore, through Delaware and into Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway is a curated, self-guided journey along the mid-Atlantic coast that conducts travelers along the pathway Tubman would have taken to free slaves. There is no better year to make stops at historic locations along the route; it’s the 200th anniversary of Tubman’s birth in 1822.

Stanley Institute - School of Determination

Built in 1867, the School of Determination is located in Cambridge, Maryland. Five Black families escaped from this area, with 20 children amongst them. This school was built shortly after the civil war when Black people could openly learn how to read and educated many prominent clergy, functioning as an active schoolhouse until the 1960s.

Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center

Located in Cambridge, Maryland, the county of Tubman’s origin, this museum brings the hero’s history to life. Walking tours take visitors along paths and to destinations that retread the footprints taken by Tubman and her escapees. Live music in Black genres like jazz and R&B craft a potent connection to our living culture, while museum exhibits and historical displays undergird the facility with a foundation of deep learning.

Church Creek

The shipbuilding station at Church Creek was an important crossroads for liberation. Here, tradesmen in sail making, blacksmithing, and other related industries interfaced with free Black sailors, spreading news, gossip, and ideas of liberation. The creek follows a pre-colonial Native American trail, and the news passed along it helped escapees navigate things like patrols or find out which hiding places were safe at which time.