New Jersey Underground Railroad Stops
Black History in the State of New Jersey
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1
Goodwin Sisters House
“Abigail Goodwin (1793 - 1867) Staunch abolitionist, Underground Railroad operative, and humanitarian, Goodwin was born in Salem, the community of which she was a lifelong resident. She was a birthright Quaker, having grandparents on both sides who were Friends. As an abolitionist she was active in the Female Anti-Slavery Society. By 1838, the house she shared with her sister, Elizabeth, now known as Goodwin Sisters House - 47 Market Street Salem, Salem County, had become a UGRR station. Her UGRR work made her a friend of many outstanding opponents of slavery, including William Still and Harriet Tubman. (Wonkeryor)”
2
Macedonia African Methodist Episcopal Church
“Established in 1832, this is Camden’s oldest black institution. It is located in what was Fettersville, Camden’s earliest black settlement. The church assisted fugitives coming up from Salem and Cumberland Counties, as well as from Philadelphia. (Wonkeryor)”
3
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church
“This is one of the oldest black churches in New Jersey, dating to the early 1800s. Located in Springtown, a swamp area that was well known for providing succor to fugitive slaves from Delaware and Maryland arriving from across the Delaware Bay, evidence for its association with the Underground Railroad is considerable. It is likely runaways were hidden both on the property of members and at this church. Black churches in many communities were used for such a purpose. (Wonkeryor)”
4
Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church
“This edifice, housing one of the oldest AME congregations in New Jersey—it dates to the early 1800s—was constructed in 1834. Evidence for its association with the Underground Railroad is strong. First, the community in which it was situated—Swedesboro/Woolwich (Small Gloucester)—has been identified as being part of the Underground Railroad network in New Jersey. It has also been documented that two members of this congregation—Pompey Lewis and Jubilee Sharper—were UGRR operatives. (Wonkeryor)”
5
Edgewater (at Croft Farm)
“This house, constructed in1741, served in the antebellum period as an Underground Railroad station. It was purchased in 1816 by Thomas Evans, a Quaker abolitionist. By 1840, when Thomas Evans moved to Haddonfield and the house became the property of his son, Josiah Bispham Evans, also a Quaker abolitionist. Under Josiah Bispham Evans the house continued as an Underground Railroad safe house. A 1918 handwritten statement by Walter W. Evans, a descendant of Thomas and Josiah Bispham Evans, traces the history of the house and mentions his family’s oral tradition that document sits use as a UGRR stop. It notes that fugitives, coming from Woodbury, were hidden in the "haymow" or "attic," then "hurried off in a covered wagon to Mount Holly." This statement is the property of the Haddonfield Historical Society. (Wonkeryor)”
6
Elisha Barcklow House
“Built in 1765 by Elisha Barcklow, an English Quaker, this house, according to the oral tradition of the community, is regarded as an Underground Railroad station. It was purchased in 1799 by William Roberts, who built the adjacent brick house. It is located on Kings Highway, an early major transportation artery that connected South Jersey to the northern part of the state and is also identified with the UGRR. (Wonkeryor)”
7
Dr. George Haines House
“There is considerable evidence that this house was part of New Jersey’s Underground Railroad. Dr. George Haines, Medford’s first resident physician and one of its most prominent citizens during the first half of the nineteenth century, built this house in 1826. According to local oral tradition, Haines, who was also a Quaker, abolitionist, and advocate for the cause of temperance, used this house as a safe haven for runaway slaves. The succeeding owner of the house, Dr. Andrew E. Budd, another physician, continued its role in the UGRR. Local oral tradition identified the rear of the house as the place where the fugitive slaves were hidden, a story seemingly confirmed by a secret room underneath the kitchen in the rear of the house that was recently discovered during renovation of the house. (Wonkeryor)”
8
Burlington Pharmacy
“Constructed in 1731 and established as a pharmacy in 1841 (it is New Jersey’s oldest pharmacy in continuous operation), this building, according to the oral tradition of the local community, was used frequently to harbor Underground Railroad runaways. During the antebellum period it was owned by William J. Allinson, a Quaker abolitionist and community benefactor, who also used it as a forum for antislavery rallies. The poet John Greenleaf Whittier, a close friend of Allinson and fellow Quaker abolitionist, is said to have denounced the evils of bondage from the doorsteps of this building. (Wonkeryor)”
9
Enoch Middleton House
“Built between 1844 and 1848 as a summer home for Enoch Middleton, a wealthy Philadelphia Quaker merchant, this house was a station on the Underground Railroad. On retirement, Middleton moved to this residence from Philadelphia and became both a UGRR station master and a conductor; in the latter capacity he guided fugitive slaves brought to his home to Allentown, Cranbury, or New Brunswick. Local oral tradition identifies this house as a UGRR station. Middleton is also identified in Wilbur H. Siebert’s The Underground Railroad: From Slavery to Freedom, published in 1898, as a Burlington County UGRR operative. (Wonkeryor)”
10
Cranbury Inn
“Apparently built in three stages—the first section dating to the mid-1700s, the second to the late 1700s, and the third to the early1800s—the inn is located in a community identified by various sources, including a strong local oral tradition, as having been connected to the Underground Railroad. Runaways were brought from Crosswicks Village or Allentown to Cranbury and then on to New Brunswick in traversing New Jersey to places farther north. There is also a local oral tradition associating the inn with the UGRR. Certainly the very nature of an inn—a place where people could stop for food and accommodations at all times of the day—would have made it an ideal place to serve as a UGRR station. (Wonkeryor)”
11
Springtown Stagecoach Inn
“The Springtown Stagecoach Inn has a long history that includes serving as an inn, blacksmith shop/forge, store, private residence, grange, municipal garage, and the Town Hall for the community of Pohatcong. The oldest section of the building, a one-and-a half-room stone structure, dates to about 1750; the upstairs and adjoining two-story structure—the second-oldest section—was constructed roughly fifteen years later. The third section, the Springtown Inn, constructed of red brick, was built around 1825 and was a stagecoach stop on the road leading out of Easton, Pennsylvania, through Phillipsburg, New Jersey, to points east, such as Somerville and Trenton; some of the stagecoaches traveled the New Brunswick Turnpike. There is a very strong local oral tradition that the inn served as an Underground Railroad safe house. The normal trafficking to and from an inn would have provided a perfect cover fora UGRR stop. (Wonkeryor)”
12
Peter Mott House
“This house in Lawnside (formerly known as Snow Hill and Free Haven), built around 1844, is an extremely precious Underground Railroad site. Not only is it one of the few extant UGRR stations that was owned and operated by an African American, but it is probably the only site of its kind in the nation: a black-owned and -operated UGRR station in an all-black town. Peter Mott (1807? - 1888) was a free black farmer, possibly a fugitive slave from Delaware, who also served as the pastor of Lawnside’s historic Mt. Pisgah AME Church. (Wonkeryor)”