Underground Railroad
From Salem Links and Lore
During the early and mid-1800's Essex County was a hotbed of underground activity. Area Quakers and other
religious leaders, writers and transcendentalists and prominent free blacks harbored runaway slaves en route to Canada.
In so doing, they defied the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
See Also
Vertical File in Salem Collection - Underground Railroad
"Network to freedom; revisiting the underground railroad" Salem Evening News, Feb. 21, 2002, p. B1
"Park Service celebrates Underground Railroad in Essex County" Salem News, Feb. 16, 2006, p. A1