National Park Service Adds New Listings to the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program

News Release Date: September 23, 2026
Contact: [email protected]

Church Creek, Md. - The National Park Service has added 10 new listings to the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program, which honors courageous freedom seekers who escaped enslavement and the allies who aided them.

Created by Congress in 1998, the Network to Freedom works alongside community members and local historians to preserve, document and amplify the history of the Underground Railroad. It includes more than 900 listings across 41 states, Washington, D.C., Canada and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Information on the newly added sites, facilities and programs appears below. NOTE: Some sites may be privately owned and not open to the public.

Georgia:

McDonough Memorial Cemetery - McDonough
The cemetery is the final resting place of two documented freedom seekers, Anthony Crockett and Halloway Crockett. Records show that both men were born enslaved in Henry County. Both escaped from enslavement and subsequently served in the United States Colored Troops.

The 1526 San Miguel de Gualdape Slave Uprising - Darien
In 1526, approximately 100 enslaved Africans brought to the short-lived Spanish settlement of San Miguel de Gualdape staged the earliest known slave revolt, in what is today Southeast Georgia, by burning buildings and escaping into the nearby woods to live in an early form of marronage with the Native Guale people.

Illinois:

Midwest Underground Railroad Network - South Holland
The network is a community based educational program that preserves and shares Midwest Underground Railroad history through immersive public tours, performances, and educational projects.

Iowa:

Burial Site of Samuel Luke Howe and Charlotte Perrin Howe in Old City Cemetery - Mount Pleasant
The cemetery is the final resting place of Samuel Luke Howe (1808-1877) and Charlotte Perrin Howe (1811-1896) who, beginning in 1841, were abolitionists and Underground Railroad operatives in southeast Iowa.

Maryland:

Brown-Cummens Escape Site - Hagerstown
This house, once owned by enslaver Jacob Hollingsworth, was the site of two group escapes to Pennsylvania: In 1847, Lloyd Brown, Ann Brown and Hester Norman escaped. In 1854, Daphne Cummens, her two children and Charles Moody fled using Hollingsworth's carriage.

Michigan:

Henry Bibb in Detroit - Detroit
Henry Bibb was a self-emancipated abolitionist born in Shelby County, Ky. He was a strong advocate for both abolition and Black migration to Canada. Bibb is perhaps best known for his self-published 1849 autobiography, The Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb: An American Slave, in which he recounted his early life as an enslaved person, his multiple attempts to gain freedom and his commitment to ending slavery in the United States.

Homesite of Asher and Catherine Aray - Ypsilanti
Asher Aray, a free Black abolitionist from Michigan, used his farm as an Underground Railroad station to safely transport dozens of freedom seekers to freedom in Canada with the help of his wife, Catherine.

Minnesota:

Eliza Winston Exhibit - Minneapolis
The exhibit chronicles the story of Eliza Winston's successful bid for freedom in the summer of 1860. Eliza Winston achieved her freedom after local abolitionists, including Emily and Ralph Grey, filed a legal claim on her behalf and the Hennepin County Court declared her free.

Ohio:

David Adams and the Underground Railroad in Hancock County - Findlay
The Ohio Historical Marker, "The Underground Railroad in Hancock County," in downtown Findlay commemorates David Adams, a free Black barber and Underground Railroad conductor. In an 1894 interview corroborated by historical records, Adams detailed how his family operated a multigenerational Underground Railroad network in Ohio that guided freedom seekers from Urbana through Hancock County toward Canada.

Oklahoma:

Black Creek Freedmen's Museum - Oklahoma City
The Oklahoma Indian Territory Museum of Black Creek Freedmen shares histories of freedom seeking by Black Creek freedmen in its exhibits and public programs, as well as provides access to its research materials related to freedom seeking.

www.nps.gov

About the National Park Service. Established in 1916, the National Park Service preserves America's most treasured natural and cultural places for the enjoyment, education and inspiration of current and future generations. Learn more at nps.gov .