Dorsey-Jones House - Florence, MA
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 42° 19.864 W 072° 40.259
18T E 691885 N 4689162
Dorsey-Jones House is located at 191 Nonotuck Street in the Florence section of Northampton, MA.
Waymark Code: WMRV1B
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 08/05/2016
Views: 1
The Dorsey-Jones House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places because of its historically significance. It was owned by three fugitive slaves and became an important stop on the Underground Railroad.
The land for the building was acquired by Basil Dorsey who build the residence at 191 Nonotuck Street in 1849. Dorsey (ca. 1810-72) escaped from Maryland to New York with the assistance of Robert
Purvis, a prominent black abolitionists and Joshua Leavitt, the western Massachusetts resident who edited the abolitionist newspaper The Emancipator. Dorsey found refuge in the Northampton Association of Education and Industry, a Utopian community in Florence, MA with the help of David Ruggles.
Thomas H. Jones (1806-90) was a slave living in Wilmington, NC. He escaped to the north in 1849. In 1854 moved to Florence, MA with his freed wife Mary Jones and obtained the former home of Basil Dorsey.
The Dorsey-Jones House is uncommon and important because it was built by one fugitive slave and occupied by two others, inside a community dedicated to racial equality. Both Dorsey and Jones used the house to help transport of fugitive slaves via the Underground Railroad.
Address:
191 Nonotuck Street
Florence, MA United States
Web site: [Web Link]
Open to the public?: Private
Name of organization who placed the marker: See the National Park Service Website
Site Details: Not listed
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