Underground Railroad: 200-year-old jail marks spot of tragic endings for some Freedom Seekers
This week our Hidden History series visits a site of triumph for many Freedom Seekers - but also a site where the struggle for some enslaved people ended tragically.
Posted — UpdatedThis small, but historic town is home to one of the most well-traveled Freedom Roads in the state: The Roanoke River. Seeing this water meant freedom could be very near.
However, less than a mile away is another reminder of the Underground Railroad – a place where the struggle for freedom sometimes ended tragically.
“Our 1838 jail is a place, where when Freedom Seekers were apprehended, it’s one of the places they would have been brought to," says Frank McMahon, Assistant Site Manager at Historic Halifax State Historic Site
If caught, Freedom Seekers could face extreme punishment, including torture, flogging, and of course: Being sent back to slavery.
Many Freedom Seekers’ stories have been lost to time. However, ‘runaway ads’ from the era paint a picture of what these men and women would have faced.
"When we look back into the newspapers of the 18th and 19th century, we find what are called ‘runaway ads.’ When a Freedom Seeker disappeared, the slave-holders would put out an ad called a runaway ad. As researchers sometimes that’s our only real reference to these people and their search for freedom.”
However, McMahon says there is a glimmer of hope: The ads reveal that even after being captured, many Freedom Seekers didn’t give up their journey. They escaped again.
“Many of these people returned to being enslaved, but many of these people continued to seek freedom. We see that’s evident in the runaway ads – where we’ll see people who repeatedly kept on trying to seek their freedom.”
In Halifax, freedom meant reaching the Roanoke River.
“We have accounts of individuals who actually traveled through Halifax in search of freedom. One of those famous is James Williams, who actually swam across the Roanoke River near Halifax in the middle of a thunder and lightning storm.”
Today, visitors can step into a 200-year-old jail cell – and walk the Underground Railroad trail through the woods to an overlook of the Roanoke River – taking in two perspectives on how a Freedom Seeker’s journey may end.
Podcast: Stories about tangible remnants of the Underground Railroad in NC
WRAL's Hidden Historian Heather Leah is a seventh-generation North Carolinian with a passion for preserving the state's culture and history. Listen as WRAL's Amanda Lamb and Heather Leah share more in-depth stories from Historic Halifax and the Underground Railroad our latest podcast.
More stories about the Underground Railroad in North Carolina
In our Following the Underground Railroad series, we show you multiple places across the state you can visit to touch tangible remnants of the Underground Railroad.
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