Travel the Underground Railroad
Follow in the footsteps of American heroine Harriet Tubman and learn how she led people from slavery to freedom at the new Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center, which opens March 11 in Maryland’s Dorchester County. A joint venture of the Maryland Park Service and the National Park Service, the visitor center will serve as a key stop on the 36-site Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway, a 125-mile scenic drive that runs through Dorchester and Caroline counties and extends into Delaware.
The new visitor center is filled with interactive and multimedia exhibits that reveal how the Choptank River region shaped Tubman’s early years, her missions as an Underground Railroad conductor, and her later years as a suffragist and civil rights worker.
Admission to the visitor center is free. Visit dnr2.maryland.gov/publiclands/Pages/eastern/tubman_visitorcenter.aspx for more information and scheduled events on opening weekend. A free byway audio guide, with commentary from Tubman’s relatives, is available for download at harriettubmanbyway.org or as a CD set at the visitor center. Nearby Blackwater Paddle & Pedal (www.blackwaterpaddleandpedal.com) offers kayak and bike tours of the Underground Railroad landscape.