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Eleutherian
a ‘Trails to Freedom’ gateway site
Peggy
Vlerebome
Courier Staff Writer
Maps have been put
together for three driving tours to Underground Railroad
sites, and will be unveiled Friday at Eleutherian College in
Lancaster.
The college is one of three “gateway sites” on the
Southeast Indiana Trails to Freedom driving tours.
The Eleutherian kick-off will be at 12:30 p.m. outside the
visitors center because extensive restoration work is under
way at the college building. The visitors center is next to
the college building.
The celebration will honor the conductors who operated in
Jefferson County before the Civil War, helping escaped
slaves to freedom.
Indianapolis actor Khabir Shareef will re-enact George
DeBaptiste, a businessman in the Georgetown section of
Madison who was active in moving escaped slaves to
Lancaster. He described the college as “the New England
Settlement who operated a good station.”
State and county representatives will present information on
the tours project, the college and the restoration that is
under way. Eleutherian College admitted women and blacks as
well as white men, and was a key part of the Underground
Railroad. It is a National Historic Site.
There will be live music and refreshments during the event.
Tour booklets will be sold at Eleutherian.
The other two gateway sites will have celebrations in July.
The second kick-off will be from 3 to 5 p.m. July 7 at the
Carnegie Center for Art and History in New Albany.
Author and storyteller Judith Owens-Lalude will present
“The Long Walk,” a story about a woman and her daughter
who escape from their master. The “Freedom Ambassadors,”
children from the New Albany community, will read stories
from the driving tour booklet that will be available at each
of the gateway sites.
Free grilled hot dogs, lemonade and ice cream will be
available, and the Deep River Songbirds, a men’s gospel
quartet, will perform.
The third trail kick-off event will be a candlelight tour
from 7:30 to 9 p.m. July 14 at the Levi Coffin State
Historic Site in Fountain City. Before the event there, a
show of slavery quilts and Coffin House-related local
artists’ works will open at the Art Gallery at the Indiana
University East campus in Richmond. The opening will be from
6 to 8 p.m.
The Coffin House came to be known as the “Grand Central
Station” of the Underground Railroad.
The trail was put together by the Indiana Underground
Railroad Coalition and the state. The coalition is made up
of representatives from 15 counties, including Jefferson.
The Indiana Underground Railroad Initiative is administered
by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources’ division
of historic preservation and archaeology.
On the Web: www.SoutheastIndianaTrailstoFreedom.com.
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