Echoes Forward

Since we happen to be in Tubman country, we talk often of freedom seekers and their daring Underground Railroad escapes. But now, thanks to aspiring Eagle Scout Sam Hulburt, you too can follow the path many local enslaved peoples traveled in their pursuit of freedom – although under much different circumstances.

Hulburt is a Junior at North Caroline High School. When deciding on a community project to complete in hopes of earning the rank of Eagle Scout, he eventually landed on forging a trail near Linchester Mill in Preston. Called the ____ Trail, the half-mile journey cuts through the woods across from the Mill, leading almost exactly to the driveway of the historic Leverton house.

In simple terms, escaping slavery in southern Caroline or nearby Dorchester usually looked something like this: You heard through the grapevine that if you could get to Linchester Mill, you could follow the creek that flows behind the Mill to an area where many successful Underground Railroad stations operated. Those included the Leverton home, where local Quakers and Abolitionists Jacob and Hannah Leverton housed, fed, and offered supplies and connections to freedom seekers. Nextdoor was the residence of Daniel Hubbard, a free Black man who was so notorious for assisting fugitive slaves that he was eventually run out of town. And not far from the county line lived Harriet Tubman’s father, Ben Ross, who also used his home as a safehouse.

Linchester Mill was the ultimate starting point for local freedom seekers. It would have been a thriving community gathering spot with the nearby businesses, the schoolhouse, and dwellings. Everyone white and Black knew where the Mill was, and would have been able to talk with each other under the guise of doing business. The Mill also offered a valuable crossing over Hunting Creek. Freedom seekers could come back at night and follow Hunting Creek to one of the safehouses. And, with the trusty divide between Dorchester and Caroline counties nearby, lawmen that had caught on to an escapee would be stopped by changing jurisdiction.

Hulburt’s trail follows the same general path that these brave freedom seekers would have taken – thorns and all. He cleared the trail himself, and even installed benches and a bridge to go over what is left of the creek near the end of the trail. Hulburt said that since the trail was established last year, already a group looking to learn more about Tubman and other freedom seekers had come and walked it. While he admits he was originally more attached to the trail for the sake of getting outside and in nature, he was taken with the history of the path.

Hulburt hopes to host an official opening ceremony in the Spring. I encourage the community to take this amazing opportunity that his hard work has provided, to literally walk in the footsteps of those who defied the unjust system of enslavement.