Day 9- Cambridge, MD

Today is just a picture perfect day.  Great day for the tour we took which was a walking tour of a picturesque quaint town of Oxford, MD. It is like Williamsburg in that it was stopped in the time between 1640’s up to the early 1800’s.  In the early 1800’s everyone moved to Annapolis, so time has stood still. Unlike Williamsburg, people still live there.  Of course the houses that you could buy at 1800 prices now sell for several million due to the fact that it sits overlooking three rivers and the Chesapeake Bay. Every street dead ends at the water. Our guide’s home is 4,000 square feet with 300 ft. of shore line. Of course every house in town is pretty much on the waterfront. One must walk to the post office as there is no mail delivery. It was a nice walk back in time.

In the afternoon, we went to the Harriet Tubman Museum and Underground Railroad.  Our guide was more than passionate about Harriet.  All of her children live in one of the many stations as they were called. A station was a place that was safe for runaway slaves.  Harriet was called a conductor, the runaways were called passengers, and the route they took was called the track. People, sympathetic to the cause, used signs such as leaving the hayloft door of their barn open with a lit lantern in the doorway. They would leave shoes and clothing for them. Food was easy to come buy as they would just take food from the gardens as they passed. Other signs were quilts hanging out with mainly green showing if it was safe and red if it was not.  Harriet saved herself but was not satisfied. Her sister Rachael told Harriet that she would not leave unless her entire family was on the farm when Harriet came to lead them to freedom. However one family member was always missing, so they never left with Harriet. However, Harriet saved over 70 slaves and brought them to freedom. On the nineteenth try Harriet found that her sister had died, so she never returned. She did save her sister’s children. Our guide had purchased a huge house where Harriet was a slave and owns the store where Harriet shopped for her owners. Once a slave was in the store and tried to escape. The owner of the store yelled at Harriet to stop him. She refused and the owner threw a weight at the runaway, but accidently hit Harriet in the head. She was only thirteen at the time but suffered seizures the rest of her life after that.  When she was having seizure, she believed that is when God spoke to her. During the Civil War she worked as a nurse for the Union. The soldiers thought she was crazy because she would run into the fray and drag soldiers to safety. She said she could not stand to her their screams for help. She also picked up a rifle and led others in battle. After the War she worked for women’s rights and gave numerous famous speeches.  Her story is amazing example of courage and determination to be free. She always said, she had two choices, freedom or death.

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Tom & Holly