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Dobbin House
89 Steinwehr Avenue, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

          Dr. Alexander Dobbins, the owner, built this stone house in 1776. When Dr. Dobbins originally built this house on his farm, he built it with two main floors. After Dr. Dobbins died sometime between 1830's and 1840's, his son Matthew, an anti-slavery advocate, reconstructed the house. He constructed new sliding wooden doors that accessed a secret room hidden between the two main floors. In this room, Matthew Dobbins hid slaves who were traveling the Underground Railroad. Now, the Dobbins house is a restaurant on one of America's greatest battlefields. If you visit there today you can see the bullets from the Civil War battle and also see the secret room where fugitives stayed on their route to freedom.

Levi Coffin House
Route 27, Fountain City, Indiana

          In Fountain City, Indiana on Route 27, you can find a two story, brick hotel. Although now it is a hotel, more than one hundred years ago, Levi Coffin "President of the Underground" was the owner of this federal-style home. Levi Coffin was a successful businessman and also a civic leader. However, he was much more than just a businessman. Coffin was the leader in Indiana for the Underground Railroad. He lived in his Fountain City home for twenty-years and helped over one thousand fugitives escape to freedom. When slaves were traveling the Underground Railroad, they stayed in different rooms in the house and other buildings that Coffin had access too.

          After twenty years of helping slaved in Indiana, Coffin moved to the Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati area where he helped hundreds more escape to freedom.

John Brown's Cave; Maynew Cabin
20th Street and 4th Corso, Nebraska City, Nebraska

          John Brown, a native of North Elba, New York, came to the west in 1854 after the Kansas-Nebraska Act had been passed. Brown made this move with five of his sons, a small group of men, and plenty of ammunition. When Brown first arrived in Kansas he was already known as a violent abolitionist. He and his small group of men started raiding proslavery towns throughout Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa, and while doing so they established many new stations for the Underground Railroad. In Nebraska City, Nebraska lived two close friends of John Brown, John Kagi and Allen Mayhew. When Brown met up with Kagi and Mayhew, the men started to construct two large cabins near a gorge on their land. While constructing these two cabins they dug a three-chambered cave in between these two cabins. The cave was supported by thick wooden beams, and was forty-five feet by fifteen feet in size. Although the men told their neighbors that they were a part of a "vegetarian society", the cave was built to hold three dozen runaway slaves. The entrance of this cave was through a trap door in Mayhew's cabin and the exit was located near the gorge so it was easily accessible if they were found. Since this cave was built on the Missouri River it was a key stop on the route to freedom for many slaves. Although there is no accurate account on how many fugitives went through this cave, there have been documents found by nearby residents who recall seeing many wagons leaving the cabin and crossing the river on a ferry boat.

Phillips' Folly
Maysville, KY

          In 1831, the mayor of Maysville had a meeting and social gathering place built for the town of Maysville. This place is now known as Phillip's Folly. Maysville, Kentucky is located in a slave state just south of Cincinnati, Ohio and the Ohio River. Since Maysville was so close to the border of freedom and slavery, it became very important location on the route to freedom. Directly behind Phillip's Folly is one of the largest slave pens along Kentucky's border. All fugitives captured east or north of the Ohio River were sent here and then later sold to the south. Although Maysville held one of the largest slave pens, that's not all the town was a hotbed for. While some slaves were being kept jailed until they were sold south, other slaves were hiding in an opening behind the wall in a "hidey hole". Many slaves hid in the "hidey hole" until they knew it was safe to cross the street into a hillside that was a free black neighborhood. From this point on, many slaves escaped to freedom with the help of abolitionists who guided a path to the Northern Free states.

[Lauren Haake]

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