International Underground Railroad Month Events

September 3rd is the anniversary of Frederick Douglass’s flight to freedom on the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, disguised as a sailor. This weekend celebration offers tours of the Frederick Douglass Path to Freedom, lectures, discussions, readings, a conference and symposium.

Friday, September 1, 2023 - Sunday, September 3, 2023

Fells Point Square
888 S. Broadway
Baltimore, MD 21231
443-983-7974
[email protected]

Join Bay Venture Outfitters to gain a unique perspective of the land and water challenges that people traveling on the Underground Railroad had to face as they moved up the Chesapeake Bay toward freedom. This evening program will include a kayak paddle experience on the North East Creek and headwaters of the North East River. Stories about specific freedom seekers who traveled through Chesapeake Country by water, land and actual railways will be shared.

Thursday, September 7, 2023
6:30 - 8 p.m.

Thursday, September 14, 2023
6:30 - 8 p.m.

Price is $50 for adults and $30 for youth.
Register here.

Bay Venture Outfitters Waterfront
104 W. Church Point Road
North East, MD  21901

On this outdoor walking tour, you will hear what research has uncovered about the enslaved people at Montpelier, including many names, how some may have been brought to Maryland, and what we know about their lives before and after emancipation. Participants will learn about the individuals who built Prince George's County, and how they resisted the inhumanity of slavery.  The museum will have some lawn chairs available for stopping points along the tour, but bring your own if you prefer.

Saturday, September 9, 2023
1 - 2:30 p.m.
Ticket price is $5 for residents, $10 for non-residents.
Register online through Parks Direct, and enter the keyword “Souls.”

Montpelier House Museum
9650 Muirkirk Road
Laurel, MD 20708
301-377-7817

Join a walking tour from Town Hall to Union Bethel AME Church and back as we discuss how the land between the Bohemia and Sassafras rivers became a crossroad to freedom. Light refreshments will be served at Town Hall. This is a free event, but please call Town Hall at 410-275-2692 to register.

Sunday, September 10, 2023
1 p.m.
Free

117 W. Main Street
Cecilton, MD  21913
410-275-2692

Join a park ranger for a guided night hike to the Turkey Point Lighthouse to learn how enslaved peoples used their senses, topography, and transportation to find their way to freedom. The Turkey Point Light Station was a beacon of hope and guidepost for those navigating the Chesapeake Bay and Elk river north to freedom. In this immersive experience, participants will discover the history of enslaved people on the Elk Neck peninsula and their pursuit of freedom.

Due to the quiet nature of this program, please no pets or small children. Reservations required by calling the park office at 410-287-5333. $3 per person.

Wednesday, September 13, 2023
7 - 9 p.m.

Saturday, September 23, 2023
6:45 - 8:45 p.m.

$3 per person

Elk Neck State Park
Turkey Point Lighthouse Parking Lot
Turkey Point Road
North East, MD 21901
410-287-5333

Join us for a one-hour lecture about the Havre de Grace Maritime Museum’s permanent exhibit The Underground Railroad: Other Voices of Freedom. Discover the Underground Railroad in the greater Upper Chesapeake Bay region. Learn about the artists who created the powerful original artwork in the exhibit. Leslie Kaufman, art curator and President of Philadelphia Sculptors, will illuminate the process of selecting artists, their personal connections to the subject matter, and the special creative techniques they used. Art is a critical part of this important exhibit.

Saturday, September 16, 2023
4 p.m.

Havre de Grace Maritime Museum
100 Lafayette Street
Havre de Grace, MD
410-939-4800

Embark on a captivating boat cruise where history comes alive! Immerse yourself in tales of the C & D Canal’s rich past, tracing the journey of explorers and traders. Learn about the canal’s pivotal role in connecting distant lands and fostering cultural exchange.

But that’s not all - dive deeper into the past of the Underground Railroad’s legacy along these waterways as we explore how the canal played a crucial role in the fight for freedom. This is a truly unique experience that blends captivating history with beautiful scenery!

Shortly after we depart for the cruise, we will be docking at the C & D Canal Museum for a chance to experience the original pump house dating back to the early 1800s. Following the museum tour will be a 90-minute cruise of the C & D Canal.

Add-on breakfast sandwiches are available from Cafe on the Bay, which if ordered, will be delivered to you at boarding. A full bar is available which includes Mimosas & Bloody Mary’s, beer, wine, seltzers, and specialty cocktails. Sodas, water and juice are also available.

Boarding begins at 10:45 a.m. Boat departs promptly at 11 a.m.

Saturday, September 16, 2023
11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Saturday, September 23, 2023
11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Tickets are $35 for adults and $20 for kids under 12. Infants are free.
Book your cruise here.

Chesapeake City Water Tours
1 Bohemia Avenue
Chesapeake City, MD 21915
443-566-3386

The Community Players of Salisbury will perform a two-act black box style production of Paths to Freedom along the Underground Railroad on the Eastern Shore with scenes from Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The production is free. Donations are appreciated.

Saturday, September 16, 2023, 7 p.m.

Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center
424 Race Street
Cambridge, MD 21613
443-235-3272

Celebrate Harriet Tubman’s self-emancipation at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center. Events and activities for families, adults and children are scheduled throughout the day.

Meet Harriet Tubman and witness a historical journey you will never forget. Enjoy a memorable interpretation of Harriet Tubman’s story from the Official Griot for the State of Maryland, Janice Curtis Greene.

Experience an a capella musical program that expresses the journey for equality, freedom and peace exemplified through Harriet Tubman’s life. Not What You Think is a musical ensemble dedicated to social justice.

Hear a keynote address by Deanna Mitchell, Superintendent of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park. Ms. Mitchell will describe Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass’s connections to the Eastern Shore.

Children and families will also enjoy the Original Team Tubman Park Quest where they can get to know real stationmasters and agents on the Underground Railroad through a scavenger hunt around the park. Try out traditional children’s games that have been around for centuries, such as marbles, jacks, horse shoes, mancala and potato sack races.

Sunday, September 17, 2023
10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park and Visitor Center
4068 Golden Hill Road
Church Creek, MD 21622
410-221-2290

Celebrate International Underground Railroad Month at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum with a book talk discussion, on Flee North by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Scott Shane. Flee North details the life of abolitionist Thomas Smallwood: A Black man who escaped slavery and helped hundreds more flee the domestic slave trade. Flee North is a riveting account of the extraordinary abolitionist, liberator, and writer Thomas Smallwood, who bought his own freedom and named the Underground Railroad. A book signing will follow with the author.

Born into slavery in Maryland, by the 1840s Thomas Smallood was free, self-educated, and working as a shoemaker a short walk from the U.S. Capitol. He recruited a young white activist, Charles Torrey, and together they began to organize mass escapes from Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and surrounding counties to freedom in the North.

Scott Shane was a reporter for 15 years at The New York Times, where he was twice a member of teams that won Pulitzer Prizes, and before that for 21 years at The Baltimore Sun. His two previous books are Dismantling Utopia, a firsthand account of the collapse of the Soviet Union, and Objective Troy, the story of an American terrorist killed in a drone strike on orders of President Obama. In 2019-2020 he was a fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, where he has taught courses on media and on the Russian attack on the 2016 American presidential election.

This program is included with museum admission.

Saturday, September 23, 2023
1 - 3 p.m.

Reginald F. Lewis Museum
830 East Pratt Street
Baltimore, MD  212202
443-263-1832

Join the Havre de Grace Maritime Museum for a one-hour lecture about their permanent exhibit on the Underground Railroad in the greater Upper Chesapeake Bay region. The National Park Service recently designated the museum’s exhibit, Underground Railroad: Other Voices of Freedom, as a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program.

Juliette Moore was a co-curator on the Underground Railroad exhibit. Ms. Moore will detail the scenes depicted through the exhibit, including the legal battle over the “ownership” of an African-American woman from the Darlington area. This battle was one of the precursors of the Civil War. She will also discuss examples of the bounty hunters, bloodhounds and extortion shown through the exhibit.

Saturday, September 23, 2023
5 - 6 p.m.

Havre de Grace Maritime Museum
100 Lafayette Street
Havre de Grace, MD
410-939-4800

Join the Havre de Grace Maritime Museum for a one-hour lecture about their permanent exhibit on the Underground Railroad in the greater Upper Chesapeake Bay region. The National Park Service recently designated the museum’s exhibit, Underground Railroad: Other Voices of Freedom, as a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program. The exhibit illuminates how the Upper Chesapeake Bay and Lower Susquehanna River waterways played a role as an avenue to freedom and an impediment to escape.

Hear stories of both successful and failed escapes, black freemen and white abolitionists, and much more. The exhibit also describes the bounty hunters and kidnappers, a murder and an infamous court case in the region that became a precursor to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

Museum President Bruce Russell, head curator for this exhibit, will discuss the research behind the exhibit and the museum’s approach in presenting these stories.

Saturday, September 30, 2023
4 - 5 p.m.

Havre de Grace Maritime Museum
100 Lafayette Street
Havre de Grace, MD  21078
410-939-4800

These 5 new exhibits were created with University of Maryland at Baltimore County scholars. They highlight stories of the Underground Railroad and the Civil War. The exhibits describe the 1856-1858 captures of freedom seekers at the President Street Station, the 1861 Civil War Pratt Street Riot, Civil War Soldiers’ Civil Rights in 1863, and Reconstruction and Suffrage in 1866.

Fridays through Mondays
10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

President Street Station Museum
601 S. President Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
443-220-0290

Trace the journey of African Americans in Anne Arundel County and explore their impact both nationally and internationally. Your guide will highlight the importance of the Underground Railroad on the Chesapeake Bay and throughout Annapolis.

Saturday, September 23, 2023
1 - 3 p.m.

Tickets are $22 per adult and $10 per child. Register here.

Market House Park
25 Market Space
Annapolis, MD  21401
410-268-7601