CNJ+ June 2024

County Commission rescued her collection from her garage and eventually opened the Underground Railroad Museum of Burlington County at His toric Smithville Park in Easthampton with Callaway as its curator until her death. Springtown Stagecoach Inn- located in Pohatcong is a documented stop on New Jersey’s Underground Railroad. Springtown Inn, also known as Hixson- Mixsell House, was constructed in 1825 and served as a place for travelers to stop and rest on their journey from northern Pa. east into New Jersey. In Bloomfield, in the basement of the Bloomfield Steak and Seafood House, deep in the cellar is a link to the roots of American History and the Underground Railroad. The building was built in 1676 and was then known as the old Joseph Hosue. The basement was connected to a tunnel that was originally used to transport women and children during the Revolutionary War to escape British soldiers. Centuries later it was used as a means of es cape and safety for enslaved people on their way to freedom. The Underground Railroad movement was made up of people who fo cused on other people so they could be able to live their lives free regardless of their skin color. New Jersey was often a final stop on their trek to freedom and also a dangerous one as the Garden State was the last northern state to abolish slavery. In Montclair, the prominent Crane family gifted property to the first freed slave in the area. His name was James Howe. The Howe house, a historic home, still exists today on Claremont Avenue. An old toll booth near the top of Bloomfield Avenue close to the Verona border was often patrolled by bounty hunters looking to capture people on the run. If people could make it to the Howe House, they would find refuge and safety. The tunnel from the Howe house ran for more than a mile to the Bloomfield Steakhouse. From there one would go to the Morris Canal and end up in Newark or Jersey City. Once you crossed the Hudson, you were free. Burlington Pharmacy was used as an Underground Railroad station even before the Civil War. Constructed in 1731, the High Street building was also used as a meeting place for antislavery rallies hosted by Quaker abolition ists. (around the corner Louise Callaways café. ) The Macedonia African Episcopal Church- is located in Camden’s first

stories, freedom-seeking slaves were hidden in the attic or hay mow and later transported by covered wagon to Mt. Holly. Greenwich Township- Slaves who traveled over the Delaware Bay found refuge in the swamps of Greenwich Township. At Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, members helped freedom seekers rest from their travels. an 1898 study acknowledged five congregants of the church as Underground Railroad operatives. The summer house of rich Quaker Enoch Middleton in Hamilton Town ship was also a frequented station along the Underground Railroad. Mid dleton moved from Philadelphia to Hamilton with the intent to become a stationmaster and a conductor helping escaped slaves travel from his home to Allentown, Cranbury, or New Brunswick. In 1826, George Haines built a home on North Main Street in Medford. The town’s first resident Doctor, Haines was also a Quaker abolitionist and used his home as a shelter on the Underground Railroad according to com munity legend. English Quaker Elisha Barcklow’s home on West Main Street in Moorestown was reportedly used as an Underground Railroad station. Lo cated on a major transportation route in the 19th century, it linked northern and southern New Jersey. Back then the route was known as Kings Highway. The Goodwin Sisters House in Salem City is the state’s most well-known Underground Railroad site. Abigail and Elizabeth Goodwin were Quaker abolitionists who set up their Market Street home as a station in 1838. The sisters’ nephew kept a diary that documented how the home was used as a sanctuary along the route. Woolwich- The Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church has been named a station with two of the members conclusively named as op eratives. The town not only has been acknowledged as a stop but several Woolrich residents were escaped slaves at one time. Current members of the congregation proudly affirm that they are descendants of freedom-seeking slaves. Cranbury’s history sites that the Cranbury Inn was part of the Under ground Railroad. Freedom seekers coming from Crosswicks Village or Al lentown would stop to rest at the Inn on their way to New Brunswick or

other Northern stations in New Jer sey. Enoch Middleton had accounted that he had brought many runaway slaves in his covered wagon to Cran bury as they sought freedom further north and in Canada. I’m sure there were many other safe houses along the way. Many of these underground site locations have been passed on orally through time. Not much is documented for fear of get ting in trouble with the law. These sites bear witness to the courage, re silience, and compassion of those who risked their lives to help others find freedom. No man should be the property of another. Hopefully, we have learned something from history and we can only improve on the mis takes of the past.

black community of Fettersville. Rev erend Thomas Clement Oliver, the pastor of the church during the 1840s was the most notable Underground Railroad operative. His parents were also conductors of the movement. After the Civil War, he spoke open ly to one of the first Underground Railroad researchers in 1898 and ex plained how the network operated in that area. The church was likely a safe haven for escapees traveling from Philadelphia or Southern Jersey. The Edgewater House at Croft Farm in Cherry Hill was another Un derground Railroad Station. Quaker abolitionists Thomas Evans, and his son Joseph, used their home as a safe house. In 1918, an Evans descendant wrote that according to his family’s

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