Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center
History museum | |
| Director | Dana Paterra, Maryland Park Service |
|---|---|
| Architect | GWWO, Inc., Architects |
| Owner | National Park Service and the State of Maryland |
| Website | www |
The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center is a visitors' center and
Building the center
History of the parks
Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Ross in the early 1820s[1][2][3] on the plantation of Anthony Thompson near the village of Madison in Dorchester County on Maryland's Eastern Shore. A year or two after she was born, Edward Brodess claimed Tubman, her mother, and her four siblings as an inheritance and took them away to his farm near Bucktown, about 10 miles (16 km) to the east. After Brodess died in 1849, Tubman was at risk of being sold. Instead, she fled slavery and moved to Pennsylvania, a state where slavery was outlawed. Over roughly the next decade, Tubman gained national fame by returning to Maryland repeatedly to lead her siblings and other slaves to freedom via what is now called the Underground Railroad.[4]
The entire area remained in private hands until 1933, when the 28,000-acre (110 km2) Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge was established.[5] This protected area encompassed much of the shoreline of the Blackwater River, but did not protect areas such as the Thompson farm, Brodess farm, or other areas important to Tubman's life and the history of the Underground Railroad.
On March 9, 2013—the 100th anniversary of Tubman's death—the State of Maryland and the
On March 25, 2013, President Barack Obama declared much of the area adjacent to the northern boundary of Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge as a
The visitor center
Beginning in the 1970s, descendants of Harriet Tubman and her siblings began advocating for a state park to commemorate Tubman, her legacy, and her connection to rural Maryland. In 2007, Maryland acquired 17.3 acres (70,000 m2) adjacent to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge for a park. The onset of the Great Recession significantly hurt both state and federal budgets, stalling any move toward construction of the park.[11]
In 2008, Maryland and the National Park Service (NPS) entered into negotiations to jointly create the Tubman park.[12] The two sides reached an agreement in 2009, after the National Park Service endorsed a plan to create national parks at Tubman-associated sites in Maryland and New York. The NPS plan required legislative approval from Congress, but none was immediately forthcoming.[11] The negotiations for a state park nevertheless bore fruit in August 2011. Funding for the 15,000-square-foot (1,400 m2), $21 million project came from a state appropriation, several federal grants, and $8.5 million in Federal Transportation Enhancement Program money. Plans called for an exhibit hall with displays, and a garden with a walking trail. The goal was to have the center completed in 2013 in time for the 100th anniversary of Tubman's death.[11]
The visitor center and gardens were designed by GWWO, Inc., Architects, an architectural design firm based in
Various construction and funding delays meant that the center did not open in 2013. That year, officials estimated completion in 2015.[9] The 2015 deadline was missed as well, and officials estimated in February 2016 that the facility would finally open in March 2017.[13]
The final cost of the state park and visitor center was $22 million.[12]
About the center
The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center is on the grounds of the 17-acre (69,000 m2) Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park.[7]
The visitor center consists of 15,000 square feet (1,400 m2) of exhibition and administrative spread over four buildings.
The 5,000-square-foot (460 m2) administration building provides space for Maryland Park Service and National Park Service personnel. It will also serve as the national headquarters for the National Park Service's National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program, which works to promote public understanding about the Underground Railroad and acts as a coordinating umbrella organization for a wide range of private, local, state, and federal Underground Railroad sites.[13]
The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center also features a memorial garden, 0.75 miles (1.21 km) of walking paths through the local landscape, and a 2,700-square-foot (250 m2) outdoor pavilion.[13] The memorial garden contains three distinctive areas: Closely mowed lawns, meadows of knee-high grass, and woodland consisting of waist-high grass, shrubs, and trees. The garden mimics the kind of concealment (or lack of it) which Tubman and her escapees faced. Two paths lead the visitor through the garden, just as Tubman and escaping slaves often had to choose which path to take.[10] The pavilion features a stone fireplace and picnic tables, and may be reserved by large groups.[13]
The state park and visitor center are managed by Dana Paterra of the Maryland Park Service.[13]
The National Park Service and Maryland Park Service opened the visitor center on March 10, 2017.[14]
See also
References
- ^ Larson 2004, p. xvi.
- ^ Humez 2003, p. 12.
- ^ Clinton 2004, p. 4.
- ^ Larson 2004, pp. xvi=xviii.
- ^ Arnett, Brugger & Papenfuse 1999, p. 200.
- ^ "Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park". Maryland Department of Natural Resources. 2017. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
- ^ a b Stodghill, Ron (February 24, 2017). "Harriet Tubman's Path to Freedom". The New York Times. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
- ^ "Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park". Maryland Department of Natural Resources. 2017. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
- ^ a b "Secretary Salazar Hails Establishment of National Monument Honoring Harriet Tubman". Houston Style Magazine. March 27, 2013. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g McCauley, Mary Carole (March 3, 2017). "New Harriet Tubman park presents the Dorchester County she grew up in, fled from". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
- ^ a b c Fuller, Nicole (August 16, 2011). "Tubman Underground Railroad center on Shore gets funding". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
- ^ a b Ruane, Michael E. (March 4, 2017). "Harriet Tubman fled a life of slavery in Maryland. Now a new visitor center opens on the land she escaped". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Harriet Tubman Visitor Center on the rise". Dorchester Banner. February 9, 2016. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
- ^ Washington, Ukee (March 10, 2017). "Harriet Tubman Visitor's Center Opens In Maryland". CBS Philadelphia. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
Bibliography
- Arnett, Earl; Brugger, Robert J.; ISBN 9780801859793.
- Clinton, Catherine (2004). Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom. New York: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 9780316144926.
- Humez, Jean (2003). Harriet Tubman: The Life and Life Stories. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 9780299191207.
- Larson, Kate Clifford (2004). Bound For the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 9780345456274.
