By: Pam Wright, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Chatham Voice
Following a five-year process, the Buxton National Historic Site and Museum has joined the U.S. National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.
It’s a major milestone, as the Buxton site is only the second location in Canada to become part of the prestigious network. The other is the Salem Chapple in St. Catharines.
According to Buxton curator Michelle Robbins, the application was started by former curator Shannon Prince prior to the pandemic, and the work has paid off.
“Since before COVID, it’s been a labour of love,” Robbins said, noting it fell off the radar but was restarted by the U.S. Park Service last year.
The Underground Railroad Network to Freedom includes close to 800 agencies and sites connected to the Underground Railroad. The railroad, while not physical, reaches throughout the United States and the Caribbean, encapsulating the actions of enslaved people who escaped and those helped them on their journey.
The railroad included safe houses and stations along the way where freedom seekers could avoid being caught by slave owners. Many of the routes that were used followed landscape features such as rivers, forests and caves.
Robbins said being part of the network will help encourage more visitors to travel to Buxton from the United States, while also raising the historic site’s profile close to home.
“We’re seeing more local visitors across the board,” said Robbins. “It’s great to see people discovering Black history that is right here in their own backyards. Every year we seem to draw in new folks from our community.”
Founded in 1849 as the Elgin Settlement by abolitionist Rev. William King, Buxton became a terminus of the Underground Railroad where freedom seekers could own land, attend school and live freely in community.
The Elgin Settlement was designated as a national historic site in Canada in 1999.
