The Underground Railroad in Essex County
April 10 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Afternoon Enrichment for Adults:
The underground railroad in essex county
In the 19th century, a secret network helping those escaping slavery, known as the Underground Railroad, ran north along the coast from Boston through Lynn and Marblehead to Salem, where it split into three trails: One through Danvers, Andover, Lawrence, and across the New Hampshire line; another by way of Danvers, Georgetown, and Haverhill. The third route went through Beverly, where Dr. Ingalls Kittredge tirelessly managed the transportation of fugitives.
From Beverly, the freedom seekers were transported to the zealous anti-slavery workers in Ipswich, continuing to Newbury, Newburyport, West Newbury, and Amesbury, and then escorted into New Hampshire.
From 1831 to 1865, William Lloyd Garrison published The Liberator, which was dedicated to the immediate abolition of slavery. A native of Newburyport, he founded the influential American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833. Men’s and women’s anti-slavery societies formed in many of the towns of the North Shore, a hotbed of the anti-slavery movement.
Afternoon Enrichment Series • Included with general museum admission • Ages: Adults • Registration not required
About Gordon Harris:
Gordon Harris grew up in Mississippi and has lived in Massachusetts since graduating from Millsaps College in 1971. In Ipswich, he is the Town Historian, the coordinator of the Ipswich Visitor Center, a member of the Ipswich Historical Society, and is a former chair of the Ipswich Historical Commission. His websites, Historic Ipswich and Historic Massachusetts, are viewed by several hundred thousand visitors to the sites each year.
