The Underground Railroad: The long journey to freedom in Canada - There's a Book About It on Waymarking.com

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The Underground Railroad: The long journey to freedom in Canada

in There's a Book About It

Posted by:  T0SHEA

19T E 399261 N 4834687

The city of Portland, being a seaside town, was very active in the underground railroad. There are sixteen underground railroad markers arrayed throughout downtown Portland.

The book, "The Underground Railroad: The long journey to freedom in Canada" was written by L.D. Cross and published by Lorimer in December of 2001.


There are sixteen markers like the ones shown that make up a walking trail highlighting the people, places and events associated with the Underground Railroad and the anti-slavery movement in Portland. Following are texts from three of these markers.

Franklin Street Wharf

Landing spot for many passengers on the underground railroad and embarkation point for their transit to Canada and England.

Anti-slavery sympathizers were well organized to greet stowaways from southern cargo vessels, find them safe housing in Portland, supply clothing and passes and send them on to Canada. The wharfs and ships of Portland employed large numbers of African Americans, providing well paying jobs, thus adding to community stability.

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Barbershop of James E. Eastman
129 Congress Street
Conductor on the Underground Railroad
Entrepreneur

Eastman (1821-1880) was barber, second hand clothing dealer, mariner and hack driver. He was also a financial supporter of the Abyssinian meeting house and school.

He owned and operated several barbershops with his four sons, including one on this site. Barbershops were important centers of communication in the anti-slavery movement and aided freedom seekers in changing their appearance.

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Home of Elias Thomas and Elizabeth Widgery Thomas, corner of India and Congress Street, known as a station house on the Underground Railroad. The Home was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1866.

The Thomases were prominent in the Portland Anti-Slavery Society, begun in 1833, which also worked to advance womens' rights. They provided housing for such notables as Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony, William Lloyd Garrison, Charles Lenox Remond, and Parker Pillsbury.

Below is a bit of the history associated with Portland with regard to its place on the underground railroad.

It was fairly common for slaves to come to Maine traveling as stowaways on vessels from southern ports. Consequently, Portland became the center of several hidden routesto Canada. In the fall of 1857, Her Majesty's Brig "Albion Cooper" loaded with lumbar from Savannah, Georgia docked in the stream opposite the Franklin Street Wharf. The vessel commanded by Captain Smith had stopped in Portland two days after leaving Savannah after discovering a runaway slave was concealed on the ship.

When he arrived in Portland, Captain Smith consulted Samuel Waterhouse, a clothing dealer on Fore Street. Samuel Waterhouse along with Daniel Fessenden, Edward P. Banks, Samuel A. Whittier, and Charles H.L. Pierre arranged for a small mob of anti-slavery supporters and African American men to board the ship under the cover of night to rescue the runaway. They took him to the "head of Hancock Street” concealing him until the next morning when he could be sent to Canada.

The boats running between Portland and the Canadian provinces were made use of to help runaways to their freedom, especially as they were often provided with boat tickets. Sailing vessels were also able to furnish free passage and carried the majority of the passengers that went from Portland.

The shipping industry served as a primary employer of African American men providing the best paying jobs available as stevedores, long-shore men, and sailors. Before 1860, up to 30% of the U.S. maritime forces were comprised of African American men. Compared to their white counterparts, black men were generally older, more reliable, stable family men who were the pillars of their communities and often deeply committed to the temperance movement.
From the Portland Freedom Trail