Choptank Landing-Escape from Poplar Neck - Preston, MD
Posted by: 
Don.Morfe
N 38° 40.890 W 075° 57.072
18S E 417265 N 4281862
While the Choptank River could pose a troublesome barrier to those without a boat, others used the river as a path to freedom. Josiah Bailey, an enslaved logger and shipbuilder, rowed six miles up the river.
Waymark Code: WM16TQH
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 10/04/2022
Views: 0
Choptank Landing- Stop 24 (page 29) Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway Driving Tour Guide
(
visit link)
TEXT from the historical marker:
Choptank Landing
Escape from Poplar Neck
— Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway —
While the Choptank River could pose a troublesome barrier to those without a boat, others used the river as a path to freedom.
Josiah Bailey, an enslaved logger and shipbuilder, rowed six miles up the river. His destination was Poplar Neck, where he alerted Harriet Tubman’s father, Ben Ross, that he wanted her help to escape.
In November 1856, Harriet arrived to lead Bailey, his brother Bill, and friends Peter Pennington and Eliza Manokey to Canada. Hotly pursued, Bailey made good his escape despite a reward for his capture.
With Tubman’s guidance, her brothers, Ben, Henry, and Robert, also escaped from Poplar Neck. Using coded messages, Harriet notified her brothers of her plan to rescue them from their parent’s cabin. On Christmas Day 1854, she met them and several friends and guided them to Philadelphia and on to Canada.
(Inscription next to the photo at the bottom left)
RIGHT: Tupin Wright, William Hugiett and John C. Henry posted a $2,000 reward for the capture of the three men. Advertisements like this one provide scholars with considerable information about the appearance and clothing of those who freed themselves.