Harriet Tubman lived her last years in a home in Auburn, NY -- which was also the home town of William Seward, and if memory serves, he was instrumental in helping her settlle there.

When she died, she willed the house and land to the local AME church and they sometimes give tours. It's a very small wood frame house with about four rooms downstairs and 3-4 upstairs.

One of the things that they said was that in homes that had been used for the Underground Railroad, there were often several doors on the ground floor. Harriet's home has seven outside doors on the first floor. The idea being that someone could delay a bit at the front door and give anyone who needed to get out time to hightail it to the treeline on the other side of the house.

Of course, a window would serve the same purpose if you really wanted to get away.

I don't think Mrs. Tubman lived there before the war, but it did make me think about whether she was concerned about repercussions from people who felt that she'd made off with their slaves and who came looking for her in later years.

I've read the story of the time the Alcott family in Concord got pressed into service hiding a fugitive slave -- the usual conductor was tied up or out of town, and at one point they thought that the authorities might have come, so they hid him in the kitchen stove (it was summer and they weren't using it).

I've also heard that Henry David Thoreau was a conductor. It would make sense, because Concord was on the regular railroad and if ever there was a town that would be Abolition Central, it surely was Concord, MA.

I've got several other first person accounts that sound credible about people's experiences -- most of them tell of helping to gather clothing to outfit someone or having a regular routine, etc. Others are "this one night I had to help with the UGRR...."

I think there were regular helpers, and others who got sort of "drafted" for a "one time only" help when the traffic increased or the regular conductor or regular route were tied up or unavailable.

There are several towns in Ontario that were founded by fugitive slaves -- they might have historical socieities with interesting information in them. I think one was St. Catherine's, Ontario.

Sincerely,
Karin Timour
Period Knitting -- Socks, Sleeping Hats, Balaclavas
Come see me at September Storm -- I'll have the sock line with me.
Atlantic Guard Soldiers' Aid Society
Email: Ktimour@aol.com