Escape from Poplar Neck - Preston, MD
Posted by: 
Don.Morfe
N 38° 40.890 W 075° 57.072
18S E 417265 N 4281862
Harriet Tubman’s parents, Rit and Ben Ross, moved to Poplar Neck in 1847. Her father worked as a lumber foreman on Dr. Anthony C. Thompson’s 2,200 heavily forested acres.
Waymark Code: WM11XQC
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 01/06/2020
Views: 2
Escape from Poplar Neck
Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway
Harriet Tubman’s parents, Rit and Ben Ross, moved to Poplar Neck in 1847. Her father worked as a lumber foreman on Dr. Anthony C. Thompson’s 2,200 heavily forested acres. Harriet probably made her first escape from this place in 1849, and she covertly led her brothers to freedom from here on Christmas Day in 1854.
Harriet Tubman’s parents were Underground Railroad agents. In 1857, they were suspected of aiding a group of escaped slaves, known as the Dover Eight. Fearing her parents’ imminent arrest, Harriet returned to rescue them, risking her own life and freedom.
With little time to prepare, Harriett hastily rigged an axle and wheels with a rickety seat for her elderly parents. She hooked up a horse, straddled the contraption, and raced them up the lane into the night. Settling in St. Catherines Canada, they joined their sons and other former slaves in freedom. Harriet moved them to a new home in Auburn, NY, in 1859.
Address:
Water Street
In the Choptank Town Boat Basin
Preston, MD USA
21655
Site Details: None
Open to the public?: Public
Name of organization who placed the marker: Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway
Web site: Not listed
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