Pennsylvania’s 23rd Byway
The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway was designated by PennDOT as Pennsylvania’s 23rd Byway in November 2022. As an extension of the Maryland Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway All American Road and the Delaware Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway, the Byway not only celebrates the life of Harriet Tubman and her travels through Chester County, Pennsylvania, it is also serving as the springboard to featuring the entire story of the Underground Railroad and the African American Experience in Chester County.
Each Byway in the United States is officially designated based on one of six intrinsic qualities: (1) Scenic, (2) Historic, (3) Cultural, (4) Recreational, (5) Natural, and (6) Archeological. The Tubman Byway was designated for its historic qualities, revealed in a story that is proving to be much more significant than first anticipated. Pennsylvania’s location “Just Over the Line” from states that allowed slavery, placed it in a particularly important position in the story of the Underground Railroad.
Geography of the Byway
The Harriet Tubman Byway story begins in Maryland, where she was born on the Eastern Shore. Profound exhibits at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitors Center near Church Creek, MD, reveal her many journeys to bring family and friends through Maryland to freedom further north. That Byway goes on to traverse the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge through which Tubman guided her charges under the cloak of night. The Byway moves up through Maryland to Denton and ultimately passes into Delaware at Camden. From there, it stretches north to Dover and Historic Odessa, where freedom seekers were shielded in a group of historic homes restored by the Historic Odessa Foundation.
After moving through New Castle County, the Delaware Byway reaches Wilmington. From there, it moves north on Route 52 until it reaches the Pennsylvania line and the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway in Pennsylvania.
Stories yet to be Revealed
The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway in Pennsylvania is governed and managed by the Brandywine Valley Scenic Byway Commission (future link – under construction), made up of a coalition of the townships through which the Byway passes. The story told along the Byway is being extended through an Underground Railroad Heritage Interpretive Trail that will encompass all of Chester County to reveal this important story to the region, the nation, and the world.