Dear family, Grandpa likes to make FB posts, so I’m sending you this one as his letter to you. "On Labor Day, we took a 4-mile hike along the “The Underground Railroad Experience Trail at Woodlawn Manor Cultural Park.” The park commemorates the involvement of Montgomery County Maryland residents in the Underground Railroad and celebrates the Quaker heritage and traditions of Sandy Springs.We were moved by the chance to think about what it would have felt like to try to run away from an enslaved life toward freedom—with no guarantees of a good life except that —you’d be free. (Italics are Debbie's additions.)
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| When we went to the Martin Luther King Memorial on August 27, it was very moving to us. These people were so friendly about our badges and told us (and their T shirts said) they were members of the church from Boston 3rd Ward!! We told them about the Visitors' Center and they decided to take their bus there. |
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| The barn was built in 1832 by a Quaker farmer. ): |
The term “Underground Railroad” refers to a 19th-century loose secret network of people and places who helped enslaved persons seek freedom in northern free states. The network was never literally underground or an actual railroad. There was no single route or trail used. The route and safe houses depended upon the freedom seeker’s personal circumstances, starting location, and destination. (Thus, this trail is not “exactly" where people ran away, but it is in an area where they would have found help from the Quakers and which was only a day and half’s walk to freedom in Pennsylvania. Also— most slaves couldn’t swim, so streams were formidable.)
Slaves seeking freedom stayed away from open spaces and heavily traveled roads. They headed toward forested areas where they would be less visible from a long distance. A good place to hide while resting along the journey would have been large bramble patches. Finding the way along the path to freedom was tough. They would find markers and secret signs such as bent tree limbs or stones piled in a certain way. Hollow trees were often used as hiding places. If fields were grown tall with corn or tobacco it provided cover and travelers could cross through the middle without fear. Places such as Sandy Spring could provide fresh water. Springs provided a natural meeting place and trail markers. The 300-year-old giant White Ash near Sandy Spring could have witnessed the journey of many people seeking freedom through the darkness.
In the 1850s Quakers helped make Sandy Spring a prosperous farming and commercial center. The Friends Meeting House (c.1817) was at the center of religious and community life. In the area, some Quakers and free blacks were quietly aiding the “Underground Railroad.”
After our hike, we drove to the Friends Meeting House in Sandy Spring, where a very kind man visited with us, and gave us a tour of the church and cemetery. He told us about the modern-day Quaker religion, and also much of what is shared in this post. (This man was the “groundskeeper” and caretaker for the cemetery. He taught us about the history of the building, which was built in 1817 and is still in use. For many years a heavy curtain (where you see the beam in the photo) divided the room and men and women sat on separate sides. He said, “It’s because we distract each other.” They changed that rule. In the 1960s, when they realized they needed more space, they decided to add balconies. They pulled out the original plans and studied the walls and realized balconies had been planned in the beginning of construction . TheQuaker Cemetery now only accepts cremated remains--probably due to space limitations.
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