Girlfriends!

Get Inspired!

Come to the land of Harriet Tubman along the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway trail.

Here are some insights to planning your Girlfriend Escape:

DAY TWO

Travel south past Annapolis, over the Chesapeake Bridge and into a land that stands still: the Eastern Shore (drive time from Baltimore ~1 ½ hours).

Here you can visit some of Eastern Shores’ most pristine landscapes and waterways – most remain untouched for nearly a century. Explore several of the sites along the 125-mile UGRR Byway including the Harriet Tubman Museum, Bucktown Village, County Courthouses, Poplar Neck and the Linchester Mill. Nestled near these landmark sites are nature trails that lead into tall reeds and grassy swamps, a log cabin and old schoolhouses. Speak with locals to hear first-hand stories passed down through generations.

After a late breakfast, start on a soft adventure into the swampy tall grass and along the UGRR “trail”. Some may want to bike or paddle the secret paths but you can also drive it.

1. Your journey begins inside the Cambridge Visitors Center at Sailwinds Park East. Storyboards give you a sense of the timeline of Harriet’s sad, yet courageous, life. Outside, beyond the Choptank River Bridge are museums, home sites, meeting houses and landscapes that take travelers back to the 1850s.
2. Start at the Dorchester County Courthouse, which was once the site of slave auctions and trials. Just a short walk away is the Harriet Tubman Museum and Education Center. Stop in for a few minutes and maybe grab a lite bite to eat at the The High Spot gastro pub or shop at some of the boutique shops and galleries along High and Race Streets.
3. In Bucktown there’s a village store (Bucktown Village Store) where, as a teenager, Tubman performed her first act of defiance by attempting to help an enslaved person avoid capture. An overseer struck her head with a 2-pound block of iron, leading to lifelong health issues. Browse the store and hold one of the 2-pound weights like the one throw.
4. The Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge is the next stop. The refuge is a massive resting and feeding area for waterfowl and migratory birds, including the Atlantic Coast’s largest population of bald eagles. The 27,000-acre refuge is home to sightings of eagles and contains wetlands and forests similar to those of the 1800s. These wetlands provided protection to freedom seekers, who followed the rivers northward, hid in the forests and marshes, foraged for food, and struggled through water to throw pursuers off their trail.

Activities include guided nature hikes, wildlife observation tours, canoeing and kayaking excursions, which allow guests to learn about the ecology and history of the area. The new Tubman State Park is across the street.

5. Heading North to Linchester, the home of a historic Grist Mill that employed both free and enslaved blacks. Mills and dams provided important crossing points over creeks for freedom seekers. Just steps from the mill, you can walk along Hunting Creek – a major point of crossing on the UGRR. Another cross-point is near the Marsh Creek Bridge. The tall grasses were hard to navigate but great for hiding.
6. In the town of Preston, the circa-1852 James Webb Cabin is the only surviving log dwelling on the Eastern Shore known to be constructed by an African-American. The structure is typical of the housing of most blacks during that time period. Built on ballast stones from ships, it stands near the Choptank River, Hog Creek and several roads, including Harriet’s possible UGRR route from Poplar Neck.

Many more stops are detailed in the Driving Tour but these easily give you the best sense of what culture and pressures existed as black slaves suffered and then escaped oppression. Even after experiencing this tour, it’s hard to imagine…what courage!