Friendship Farm Park Added to the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom

News Release # 2026-067

Thursday, May 21, 2026

TheCharles County Department of Recreation, Parks, and Tourism is pleased to announce that Friendship Farm Park has been added to the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.

The park is the original site of Friendship House, built in the mid 1700's and made famous by the 1840 escape of Scipio Grantt, an enslaved man from Robert Gray at Friendship Farm.

Today, the place where Grantt toiled and made his escape is now known as Friendship Farm Park, a 382-acre facility overlooking Nanjemoy Park. The park also retains the original site of the Friendship House, two 18th-century livestock houses, and a 17th-century granary.

The National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom is a federal program established in 1998 by an act of the same name. The program collaborates with local, state, and federal entities as well as individuals and organizations to honor, preserve, and promote the history of resistance to enslavement through escape and flight. The program consists of sites and locations with a verifiable connection to the Underground Railroad; educational and interpretive programs pertaining to the Underground Railroad; and research, educational, or interpretive centers.

For more information on the site, visit the Network to Freedom listings page.

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