{"id":35744,"date":"2022-02-01T09:03:43","date_gmt":"2022-02-01T14:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=35744"},"modified":"2022-03-17T15:05:38","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T19:05:38","slug":"traveling-in-the-footsteps-of-harriet-tubman-celebrate-tubmans-bicentennial-in-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2022\/02\/01\/traveling-in-the-footsteps-of-harriet-tubman-celebrate-tubmans-bicentennial-in-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Traveling in the Footsteps of Harriet Tubman: Celebrate Tubman\u2019s Bicentennial in 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center mural. Photo courtesy of Dorchester County Visitors Center<\/p><\/div>\n

Two hundred years ago, an American hero named Harriet Tubman was born in Dorchester County, Maryland. An Underground Railroad conductor, abolitionist, suffragist, veteran, and small business owner, Tubman overcame arduous odds to accomplish great feats. Today, the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Scenic Byway follows in her footsteps from her home in Dorchester County to freedom in Philadelphia. There are 45 sites to explore in total, and nearly half of the byway\u2019s sites are located in Dorchester County.<\/p>\n

A major stop along that route is the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park and Visitor Center, near Church Creek. The park celebrates its fifth year in operation this year, which is also the bicentennial of Tubman\u2019s estimated birth year.<\/p>\n

For anyone who wants to explore \u201cTubman Country,\u201d the rangers at Harriet Tubman Underground Rail-road State Park picked some favorite sites to visit.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center (Site #5)
\n<\/strong>Operated by the nonprofit Harriet Tubman Organization, the volunteer-run Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center preserves artifacts, organizes events, and teaches visitors about Tubman\u2019s continuing importance in the area where she grew up. Inside the museum are exhibits and a gift shop. A painted mural outside the museum, depicting Tubman reaching out to the viewer, went viral on social media in 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to have a partner in interpretation, and I\u2019m glad that so many visitors get to visit both the museum and the Visitor Center and get a well-rounded view of Tubman\u2019s story,\u201d said Seasonal Ranger Laurel Pogue. \u201cAll of the volunteers are knowledgeable and welcoming, and help make the museum a great experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joseph Stewart\u2019s Canal\/Parsons Creek (Site #10)<\/strong>
\nFor more than two decades, enslaved and free Blacks toiled perilously to dig Stewart\u2019s Canal, which connected the timbering and agricultural areas around the Blackwater River to the Little Blackwater River, the shipyards in Madison Bay, and destinations across the Chesapeake Bay. The seven-mile canal is still visible today, more than two hundred years after work on the canal began.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe canal holds a dark history of slavery, but despite this, the sunsets over it remain breathtaking,\u201d said Ranger Chaney Dale.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>

Parson\u2019s Creek under a starry sky. Photo by Robert Fawcett.<\/p><\/div>\n

Harriet Tubman Underground Rail-road State Park and Visitor Center (Site #13)<\/strong>
\nOpened in 2017, the Visitor Center\u2019s exhibits reveal the life and legacy of Harriet Tubman, with a focus on her early life here on the Eastern Shore. The exhibits are complemented with a theater, a park store, and a Legacy Garden that surrounds the Visitor Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Visitor Center offers guests an immersive and emotive experience, creating connections between modern day travelers and the 19th century. Our exhibits provide a strong foundation for exploring more of Tubman Country,\u201d said Park Manager Dana Paterra.<\/p>\n

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge (Site #14)<\/strong>
\nEstablished to protect prime habitat for migratory birds, Blackwater National Wild-life Refuge also protects the natural environment as it was when Harriet Tubman lived in Dorchester County. The refuge\u2019s Wildlife Drive takes visitors past a mixture of forest, swamp, and open water that have characterized southern Dorchester County for centuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love seeing the variety and sheer number of birds at Blackwater,\u201d said Seasonal Ranger Adam Larson. \u201cThe bald eagles are there year-round, and from winter to summer you can watch as the huge flocks of geese are replaced by osprey nesting on platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>

Bucktown Village Store<\/p><\/div>\n

Bucktown Village Store (Site #17)<\/strong>
\nWhen Harriet Tubman was about 12 years old, she went to the Bucktown Village Store on an errand. An enslaved man had entered the store without permission from his slaveholder, and an overseer had followed him there. The overseer told Tubman to restrain the enslaved man, but she refused. The overseer then took a weight and hurled it at the enslaved man, but missed and struck Tubman in the head. The near-fatal injury caused her to have vivid visions for the rest of her life that she believed were sent by God.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can visit the site where Harriet demonstrated her first act of defiance, and while her injury was physically devastating, it was spiritually awakening,\u201d said Park Ranger Cierra Maszkiewicz.<\/p>\n

Faith Community United Methodist Church (Site #21)<\/strong>
\nChurches were a cornerstone of the free and enslaved Black community, where preachers shared a vital message of empowerment and hope. The Reverend Sam Green, an Underground Railroad conductor, was one of the original trustees of Faith Community United Methodist Church, a congregation that still worships today.<\/p>\n

\u201cFaith Community Church is a center of the community where everybody meets and greets each other in a historically important congregation,\u201d said Seasonal Ranger Mary Dennard. \u201cWe are a people that remember where we came from. We are products of the past.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

dnr.maryland.gov\/publiclands<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Adam Larson<\/strong> served as a 2021 seasonal ranger at Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park. Article appears in Vol. 25, No. 1 of the Maryland Natural Resource magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two hundred years ago, an American hero named Harriet Tubman was born in Dorchester County, Maryland. An Underground Railroad conductor, abolitionist, suffragist, veteran, and small business owner, Tubman overcame arduous odds to accomplish great feats. Today, the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Scenic Byway follows in her footsteps from her home in Dorchester County to freedom  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":174,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,23,12],"tags":[4287,3013,4941,3168,3635],"class_list":["post-35744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-land","category-parks","tag-harriet-tubman","tag-harriet-tubman-underground-railroad-state-park","tag-history","tag-magazine","tag-natural-resource-magazine"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/174"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35744"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35812,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35744\/revisions\/35812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}