Following Harriet Tubman on the Maryland Eastern Shore

Union Army scout, spy, nurse, fighter for equal rights and women’s suffrage, but above all, an inspirational leader who was called the “Moses of her people” as she guided over 70 family members and other brave souls north to freedom.

“I was a conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can’t say – I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.”

Harriet Tubman was born in Dorchester County on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, a part of the state that is very different from the bustling, heavily populated urban areas close to Washington, DC, like Prince George’s County.

The Eastern Shore is still sprinkled with small towns, rural areas, farms, woodland, and marshes, with a rich maritime heritage since it is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the large Chesapeake Bay on the other. Some parts of the region have been so isolated for so long, they even have a unique dialect and way of speaking that linguists have connected back to the original 1600’s settlers.

While there has been development over the years, much of the Eastern Shore doesn’t look that much different than when Tubman was guiding people through forested areas and across bodies of water like the Choptank River.

Even on my day trip through a small part of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park, including the Visitor Center in Church Creek about 15-20 minutes south of Cambridge, I could see where she operated and appreciate how her deep knowledge of this land (and her extraordinary navigation skills) contributed to her success in leading escapees through trackless marsh, woods, and fields, plus foraging to feed people.

The mural at the top of this post is painted on the side of the Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center on Race Street in Cambridge MD. I didn’t have a chance to go in, but certainly plan to return. From the mural, I headed out down the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway to see the Visitor Center and a few other key places.

There are over 30 Tubman- and Underground Railroad-related sites along the Byway, stretching from New Revived Church far to the south all the way up to Red Bridges, a low-water crossing at the Choptank headwaters over 50 miles to the north. Tubman traveled with her groups on foot (sometimes in wagons with false bottoms) and usually at night to traverse these distances that I was seeing at 55 mph in a car on a sunny day.

There is a lot to see and learn at the Visitor Center, but I was struck by blue panels that listed many of the names of enslaved people who were led to freedom by Tubman. Many are “unidentified” but there are names for a number of others, which boggles my mind given the thin records-keeping in many cases, plus the need for secrecy.

Escapees included Tubman’s own parents, Ben and Rit, who were in their seventies when she led them all the way to Canada in 1857.

“They sped off, Ben gripping his prized axe and Rit her cherished feather bed.”

The photo mural below shows Tubman across her life from the early 1820’s to 1913. It bears remembering that photography was in its infancy in the 1800’s, so it’s surprising that we have so many photos of her.

As a Navy veteran myself, I was surprised and thrilled to see that Tubman had a World War II Liberty ship named after her.

Even better, her great niece had the honor of christening the ship…

Across from the Visitor Center, but still a part of the Tubman National Park is the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.

“Tubman spent her childhood as a slave working on farms that abut or are included within the boundary of the Refuge. As a young adult she worked as a timber laborer on the north side of the Blackwater River and checked muskrat traps along the Little Blackwater River.”

There are hiking trails in the Refuge plus an auto tour Wildlife Drive if you want to stay in your car.

It’s a little confusing, but in addition to the Tubman Underground Railroad Byway, I also found myself on the 419-mile Chesapeake Country National Scenic Byway as I drove around looking at Tubman-related sites.

This is one of 49 newly-designated U.S. National Scenic Byways and All-American Roads – I need time to see them all.

There is a pullout for the Brodess Farm where Tubman was enslaved, and not far away is the site of the Bucktown General Store.

That’s where Tubman witnessed an altercation that involved a two-pound weight thrown by an overseer. It cracked her skull and gave her headaches and vision problems for the rest of her life.

Tubman credited her hair for keeping her alive:

“My hair had never been combed and it stood out like a bushel basket . . . I expect that thar hair saved my life.”

Even though my day on the Eastern Shore barely scratched the surface of Harriet Tubman’s story, or the story of the Underground Railroad in this part of Maryland, there was a nice tie-in to a place I’d recently discovered.

I had just come south from doing a workshop that introduced me to the Wilmington, Delaware Riverfront. Tubman led many of her escapees up through Delaware, and one of her Underground Railroad “conductors” was a abolitionist Quaker in Wilmington named Thomas Garrett.

There is an evocative sculpture by Mario Chiodo on the Riverfront, featuring both Tubman and Garrett. I had stood and admired it before driving to the Eastern Shore…

Now I had experienced a little of where Tubman’s life and journeys started, and the lush landscape that she knew so well.

All photos by the author.

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