SHARES HOW YOU CAN TAKE PART. IT’S A SCENIC DRIVE THROUGH THE FIELDS AND MARSHLANDS OF DORCHESTER COUNTY, BUT AT ONE POINT IT WAS A ROAD TO FREEDOM. WHEN THEY DO THE BYWAY, I WANT THEM TO FEEL WHAT IT WAS LIKE AND WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO GET TO THE END AND BE IN FREEDOM. HARRIET TUBMAN, BORN INTO SLAVERY IN DORCHESTER COUNTY, ESCAPED TO FREEDOM BUT RETURNED TO HER EASTERN SHORE HOME 13 TIMES TO HELP OTHERS ALONG THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD. SHE ACTUALLY USED THE STARS TO GUIDE HER WAY OUT, AND SHE LEARNED THAT FROM HER FATHER, WHO WORKED OUTSIDE WHEN SHE WAS A CHILD, AND HE TAUGHT HER HOW TO READ THE STARS AND HOW TO READ DIRECTION. THE HARRIET TUBMAN BYWAY IS A SELF-GUIDED 125 MILE DRIVE THROUGH DORCHESTER AND CAROLINE COUNTIES, ALL THE WAY UP TO PHILADELPHIA, HIGHLIGHTING STOPS AND POINTS OF SIGNIFICANCE ALONG THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD. AND APP NARRATES THE JOURNEY AT EVERY STOP ALONG THE WAY. YOU ARE NOW AT A VERY SPECIAL PLACE. ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT STOPS IS THE BUCKTOWN GENERAL STORE, THE PLACE OF TUBMAN’S FIRST ACT OF DEFIANCE. A SLAVE BOY WAS CHASED INTO THE STORE BY HIS OVERSEER, WHO ORDERED TUBMAN TO HOLD THE BOY WHILE HE WHIPPED HIM. SHE REFUSED. SHE LET THAT OVERSEER HAVE IT, AND WHEN SHE DID, THAT SLAVE BOY STARTED ENGINE OUT THE DOOR. AS SHE’S YELLING AND SCREAMING. AS HE’S INCHING OUT THE DOOR, THE OVERSEER SEES THE SHADOW MOVE AND GRABS UP A 2 POUND COUNTERWEIGHT, AND HE HURLS IT AT THE BOY TO STOP HIM AND ACCIDENTALLY HITS HER IN THE FOREHEAD. AFTER THAT HEAD INJURY, TUBMAN STARTED SEEING VISIONS AND BELIEVED GOD WAS TALKING TO HER, TELLING HER TO RUN AND HELP OTHERS TO FREEDOM. THE BYWAY TAKES YOU INTO DOWNTOWN CAMBRIDGE AND PAST THE FAMOUS TAKE MY HAND MURAL, THEN OVER TO THE COUNTY COURTHOUSE, WHERE THE STATUE OF HARRIET TUBMAN STANDS. IT HAS A TON OF SYMBOLISM ON IT, BUT IT STANDS IN ONE OF THE LOCATIONS WHERE SLAVE AUCTIONS ACTUALLY HAPPENED AT THE COURTHOUSE IN DORCHESTER COUNTY. IN HER LIFETIME, TUBMAN HELPED AT LEAST 70 PEOPLE ESCAPE SLAVERY BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR. IT’S ALL HIGHLIGHTED IN THE VISITOR CENTER. ANOTHER STOP ON THE BYWAY WHERE THE YOU DRIVE THE WHOLE ROUTE OR JUST DO A PART. ORGANIZERS HOPE IT LEAVES AN IMPACT. I HOPE THEY LEAVE WITH A SENSE OF EVERYONE DESERVES TO BE FREE. EVERYONE DESERVES THAT, RIGHT? AS AN AMERICAN. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT WE REMEMBER OUR PAST SO WE DON’T REPEAT IT. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE BYWAY, YOU CAN FIND A LINK ON THE WB TV APP. IN DORCHESTE
Driving tour journeys through Harriet Tubman’s life, legacy in Maryland
Harriet Tubman Byway is self-guided, 125-mile drive highlighting points of significance along Underground Railroad
Updated: 8:29 PM CST Feb 20, 2025
A driving tour celebrates the life and legacy of one of Maryland’s Eastern Shore’s most famous former residents.A scenic drive through the fields and marshlands of Dorchester County was, at one point, a road to freedom.”When they do the byway, I want them to feel what it was like and what it was like to get to the end and be in freedom,” said Holly Gilpin, the county’s director of tourism.Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in Dorchester County and escaped to freedom. But she returned to her Eastern Shore home 13 times to help others traverse the Underground Railroad.”She actually used the stars to guide her way out, and she learned that from her father, who worked outside when she was a child, and he taught her how to read the stars and how to read direction,” Gilpin told sister station WBAL.The Harriet Tubman Byway is a self-guided, 125-mile drive through Dorchester and Caroline counties, all the way north to Philadelphia. It highlights stops and points of significance along the Underground Railroad with an app that narrates the journey at every stop along the way.One of the most significant stops is the Bucktown General Store, which was the place of Tubman’s first act of defiance. A slave boy was chased into the store by his overseer, who ordered Tubman to hold the boy while he whipped him.She refused.”She let that overseer have it, and when she did, that slave boy started inching out the door, as she’s yelling and screaming. And, as he’s inching out the door, the overseer sees the shadow moving,” said Susan Meredith, the owner of the Bucktown General Store. “So, he grabs a 2-pound counterweight, and he hurls it at the boy to stop him and accidentally hits her in the forehead.”After that head injury, Tubman started seeing visions and believed God was talking to her, telling her to run and help others to freedom.The byway takes visitors into downtown Cambridge and past the famous Take My Hand mural before traversing to the county courthouse, where a statue of Tubman stands.”It has a ton of symbolism on it, but it stands in one of the locations where slave auctions actually happened at the courthouse in Dorchester County,” Gilpin said.In her lifetime, Tubman helped at least 70 people escape slavery before the Civil War, and it’s all highlighted at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park and Visitor Center — another stop on the byway.Whether driving the entire route or just part of it, organizers hope it leaves an impact.”I hope they leave (feeling that) everyone deserves to be free, everyone deserves that right as an American. It’s very important that we remember our past so we don’t repeat it,” Gilpin said.
A driving tour celebrates the life and legacy of one of Maryland’s Eastern Shore’s most famous former residents.
A scenic drive through the fields and marshlands of Dorchester County was, at one point, a road to freedom.
“When they do the byway, I want them to feel what it was like and what it was like to get to the end and be in freedom,” said Holly Gilpin, the county’s director of tourism.
Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in Dorchester County and escaped to freedom. But she returned to her Eastern Shore home 13 times to help others traverse the Underground Railroad.
“She actually used the stars to guide her way out, and she learned that from her father, who worked outside when she was a child, and he taught her how to read the stars and how to read direction,” Gilpin told sister station WBAL.
The Harriet Tubman Byway is a self-guided, 125-mile drive through Dorchester and Caroline counties, all the way north to Philadelphia. It highlights stops and points of significance along the Underground Railroad with an app that narrates the journey at every stop along the way.
One of the most significant stops is the Bucktown General Store, which was the place of Tubman’s first act of defiance. A slave boy was chased into the store by his overseer, who ordered Tubman to hold the boy while he whipped him.
She refused.
“She let that overseer have it, and when she did, that slave boy started inching out the door, as she’s yelling and screaming. And, as he’s inching out the door, the overseer sees the shadow moving,” said Susan Meredith, the owner of the Bucktown General Store. “So, he grabs a 2-pound counterweight, and he hurls it at the boy to stop him and accidentally hits her in the forehead.”
After that head injury, Tubman started seeing visions and believed God was talking to her, telling her to run and help others to freedom.
The byway takes visitors into downtown Cambridge and past the famous Take My Hand mural before traversing to the county courthouse, where a statue of Tubman stands.
“It has a ton of symbolism on it, but it stands in one of the locations where slave auctions actually happened at the courthouse in Dorchester County,” Gilpin said.
In her lifetime, Tubman helped at least 70 people escape slavery before the Civil War, and it’s all highlighted at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park and Visitor Center — another stop on the byway.
Whether driving the entire route or just part of it, organizers hope it leaves an impact.
“I hope they leave (feeling that) everyone deserves to be free, everyone deserves that right as an American. It’s very important that we remember our past so we don’t repeat it,” Gilpin said.
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