A Natural Gateway for Freedom Seekers
Strategically located near the Mason-Dixon Line, Chester County with its rolling hills and thick woodlands, became a natural gateway for freedom seekers traveling under the cover of night. Yet, it was the moral geography of the county, shaped by a strong Quaker presence and a fervent abolitionist spirit of free African American communities with residents and freedom seekers who wanted the same liberties as their brethren, that truly defined Chester County’s role in the Underground Railroad.
In addition to the African American communities and their churches located throughout the county, a series of homes of Quakers and other abolitionists that served as safe houses and Underground Railroad stations and their meeting houses still dot the landscape. These places were not just buildings, communities, and places of worship; they were sanctuaries where the ideals of equality and freedom were put into action.
Lincoln University
Few institutions hold as significant a place in the narrative of African American educational advancement as Lincoln University. Founded in 1854, this pioneering institution underscores the African American community’s enduring quest for knowledge and empowerment.
Located just outside of Oxford in southern Chester County, Lincoln University is the country’s oldest African American institution of higher learning. The driving force behind the university was John Miller Dickey, a white senior minister at the Oxford Presbyterian Church, who had shown concern for African Americans. He had contributed to the liberation of the Parker sisters, who were kidnapped and sold into enslavement even though they were free. He also supported the American Colonization Society, which espoused that freed African Americans return to Africa as missionaries. He was unable to enter African American Richard Allen in the Princeton University Seminary because he was black, which brought him to search for a solution to establish a seminary for “colored” men.
A Vital Role in Training of African American leaders
What resulted was a college initially named in honor of Jehudi Ashmun, the first governor of Liberia. After the Civil War, it was renamed Lincoln University in honor of President Abraham Lincoln. The original educational curriculum covered liberal arts, law, medicine, and theology. Financial problems and declining enrollment later necessitated closing the seminary and schools of law and medicine. Ultimately, Lincoln became a state-supported school with the same rank as Temple University, The University of Pittsburgh, and Penn State.
Lincoln University has played a vital role in the training of African American leaders, illustrated by the fact that in its first 100 years, the University graduated 20% of the African American doctors and 10% of all the African American attorneys in the United States. Lincoln University’s alumni roster reads like a “Who’s Who in the Twentieth Century”, including Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, poet Langston Hughes, Kwame Nkrumah, the nation of Ghana’s first prime minister, and Nnamdi Azikiwe, the nation of Nigeria’s first president. Namibia’s first independent government cabinet had at least six Lincoln University graduates.
Lincoln’s graduates also included Harry W. Bass, Pennsylvania’s first African American legislator; Robert N. C. Nix, the state’s first African American congressman; Herbert Millen, the state’s first African American judge; and Roy C. Nichols, the first African American bishop of the United Methodist Church. Graduate Dr. Horace Bond was the first African American president of Lincoln.
In the earlier years, the student population of Lincoln typically numbered around 1,400, but it has risen to around 2,000 in recent years.
Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall
Longwood Gardens Area Nexus
Four locations that were once a part of Longwood Farm or very near to it, are all now located adjacent to Longwood Gardens.
Longwood Progressive Friends Meeting House
The religious services of Quakers – officially called the Society of Friends – are held in what is referred to as a meeting house. The services themselves are referred to as meetings. If there is any one place that could be called the hub of many of the activities of the Underground Railroad in Chester County, it would be the Longwood Progressive Meeting. In 1853, 58 women and men, including the Coxes, Mendenhalls, Barnards, Pennocks, Fussells, and other prominent Quaker families, were read out of the Kennett Yearly meeting because of their beliefs in abolition. They subsequently established the Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting of Progressive Friends, locally known as Longwood Meeting. This new religious society sought to break free from traditional Quaker discipline to dedicate itself fully to social reform.
The initiative marked a significant departure from conventional conservative religious practices of the time. Rather than birthright membership, the only membership requirements were attendance and a commitment to engage in social reform. The meeting house was filled with sermons, prayers, lectures, and even live music, quite unusual for Quaker meetings at the time. The meeting house also hosted large crowds attending the speeches of famed national abolitionists and speakers about women’s rights. Here, prominent figures like Lucretia Mott, Thomas Garrett, and William Lloyd Garrison convened, drawing up plans and strategies to aid those seeking freedom. The meeting house’s commitment to the abolitionist cause was unwavering, and its members often faced significant risks and challenges in their endeavors.
The meeting met for a time in Hamorton Hall before building the Longwood Progressive Friends Meeting House in 1855 on land that was part of Longwood Farm, purchased from John and Hannah Cox.
The very committed members of this Meeting ultimately had a direct influence on the abolition of slavery when six delegates from Longwood Progressive Meeting: Thomas Garrett, Alice Hambleton, Dinah Mendenhall, Oliver Johnson, Aliza Agnew, and William Barnard, met with President Abraham Lincoln in June 1862 to present a memorial (petition) for widespread emancipation.
Three months later, President Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that as of January 1st, 1863, all enslaved people in the states currently engaged in rebellion against the Union “shall be then, and thenceforward, and forever free.” William Lloyd Garrison hailed this proclamation as “a great historic event, sublime in its magnitude, momentous and beneficent in its far-reaching consequences.” Finally, in December 1865, six months after the final surrender in April and the freeing of the enslaved in Texas in June of that year, the United States adopted the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude except as punishment for a crime.
The Progressive Friends Meeting House is now the office of the Chester County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The Cox House
Dating back to construction in 1797, the Cox House was the home of abolitionists John and Hannah Cox, founding members of the Longwood Progressive Friends Meeting. It was initially part of the Peirce family’s homestead granted in a deed from William Penn. After several generations, Jacob Peirce, Hannah Pierce Cox’s brother, acquired the southern portion of the Peirce Farm in 1826. In 1829, John and Hannah Cox purchased the land.
As one of the Underground Railroad “stations” closest to the Pennsylvania-Delaware border, the Cox Home became a critical station on the Underground Railroad, where they sheltered freedom seekers and facilitated their safe passage to other safe houses.
The Cox House is currently being physically moved from its location adjacent to US Route 1, further back on the property, in order for it to be preserved and restored.
Longwood Cemetery
Situated across from the Progressive Friends Meeting House, the Longwood Cemetery was a physical manifestation of the Progressive Quaker ideals. It was established as a place of rest for the community, irrespective of race or financial status. It was also built on land from Longwood Farm, purchased from John and Hannah Cox, and expanded in 1885 when additional land was acquired from the Cox family.
Longwood Cemetery ultimately became the final resting place for many original members of the Progressive Friends and fellow station masters of the Underground Railroad, local residents, and those who contributed to the development of Longwood Gardens. This makes the cemetery an additional repository of the area’s rich history, spanning social reform, abolitionist movements, and horticultural development.
Longwood Gardens acquired the cemetery in 2018, a move that symbolized the reunion of the cemetery with the historic Longwood Farm and the Progressive Friends Meeting House.
Hamorton Hall
The fourth location at the Longwood Gardens nexus is Hamorton Hall, constructed in 1846 by Dr. Bartholomew Fussell as a place dedicated to free discussion. The hall hosted meetings and lectures addressing slavery, temperance, and other social issues, featuring speeches from renowned abolitionists like Charles C. Burleigh and William Lloyd Garrison. The hall was also used for the Progressive Friends’ meetings before the Longwood Progressive Meeting House was construed.
The upper floor of Hamorton Hall served as a Quaker school established by Dr. Fussell that was open to all, regardless of race or gender, a progressive step at a time when such inclusivity was rare. This school not only offered education but also served as a platform for imparting the ideals of equality and freedom.
Beyond educational and meeting spaces, the now Hamorton Historic District also included a “free store” operated by Sarah Harvey Pearson and George Pearson, an active abolitionist and member of the Free Soil movement. The store boycotted goods produced by slave labor. Starting in a stone house and later moving to a brick store built in 1844, it operated until 1858.
Kennett Square Area Nexus
Just a bit further on US Route 1 from the Longwood complex, there is another group of key Underground Railroad locations in Kennett Square.
The Pines / Fussell House
Constructed in 1823, before The Pines became an Underground Railroad “station,” it served as a typical farmhouse outside downtown Kennett Square. The transformation of The Pines into a haven for freedom seekers began with Dr. Bartholomew Fussell, a Quaker physician and the same gentleman who held the Quaker School in Hamorton Hall.
Under his ownership, The Pines became an integral part of the Underground Railroad network in Chester County, where he delivered refuge, medical care, food, and guidance to the estimated 2,000 freedom seekers who passed through its doors. The compartments in the basement where the enslaved were concealed are still extant in the structure
Kennett Underground Railroad Center / Kennett Heritage Center
The Kennett Underground Railroad Center and the Kennett Heritage Center currently share a location at 120 North Union Street, Kennett Square in the historic Dr. Isaac D. Johnson house.
Dr. Johnson was a mechanic, inventor, author & physician. In 1858, with help from Quaker abolitionist Ester Hayes, he rendered aid to an injured freedom seeker at the home of African American abolitionist James H. Walker, who was later spirited out of Kennett by a “conductors” on the Underground Railroad to eventually settle in Boston. To honor his assistance, the freedom seeker named himself Johnson Hayes Walker.
Exhibits at the Center include the history of Kennett Square. The Kennett Underground Railroad Center offers tours that begin at the Chester County Convention and Visitors Bureau, located in the Longwood Progressive Friends Meeting House.
Education remains a crucial focus of the Kennett Heritage Center and the Kennett Underground Railroad Center, which host various educational programs, workshops, and lectures designed to provide deeper insights into the region’s history and to engage the community in discussions about the past’s relevance to contemporary issues. The center is also a hub for historical research, holding archives and a library are treasure troves of information, offering invaluable resources for historical research and preservation.
Barnard Station
The history of Barnard Station began with the earliest part of the structure, believed to have been constructed between 1803 and 1823 by Amos Harry. The property, featuring Federal period detailing, was eventually sold to Enos Painter, whose daughter Sarah married Eusebius Barnard in 1829. This union began the Barnard family’s enduring legacy on the property, which would become a beacon of hope for countless freedom seekers.
Eusebius Barnard was born into a prominent Quaker family, and Sarah, born into the Painter family of abolitionists, Sarah brought her own activism to the marriage. The Barnard Station property, given to Sarah by her father, became a safe haven for freedom seekers when the whole family became involved in the Underground Railroad.
As founding members of the Longwood Progressive Meeting, the influence of the Barnard family extended beyond Barnard Station. Frederick Douglass often stayed with the Barnard family when he visited the area. During their visits to the Kennett area, Eusebius’ brother William Barnard was in the group meeting with Lincoln in 1862.
Likely, neither knew they were Quaker cousins, third cousins once removed, to be exact. Abraham Lincoln’s 3rd Grandparents were Richard and Frances Barnard, Quakers who arrived in America from Wiltshire, England, in 1682 and settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The Barnards of Chester County are Abraham Lincoln’s Quaker Roots.
Today, Barnard Station’s legacy is being preserved and honored through the efforts of the Friends of Barnard Station, who are creating a Heritage Center at the Barnard House, now owned by Pocopson Township. This center highlights the abolitionist movement and Pocopson Township’s significant role in American history.
Other Historic Locations in Chester County
Other historic locations in Chester County that can still be viewed as they appeared in the pre-Civil War era include:
Historic Sugartown
In the early 1800s, Sugartown’s early residents established a school, general store, businesses, and meeting places, creating a vibrant crossroads that provided goods and services to its surrounding farming community. The village was soon known as Shugart’s Town, after tavern keeper Eli Shugart, and served as a vital stop for weary travelers hauling wagonloads of goods to the markets of Philadelphia and other parts of the county. Sugartown remained a social, educational, commercial, and municipal center throughout the 1800s.
Today, Sugartown offers a window into American life in an early 19th-century rural crossroads village lovingly preserved by Historic Sugartown, Inc., where visitors can experience how people came together to conduct business, exchange news, and share their lives as a community.
Historic Yellow Springs
Unionville Village Historic District
Notable buildings include the Unionville Academy, founded in 1834, the Union Hotel from the same year, the 1751 Cross Keys Inn, the Unionville Hall constructed in 1849 and the 1845 Grange Hall that originally the Friends Meetinghouse.
Ercildoun Historic District
The Anti-Slavery Society in Ercildoun met in the Fallowfield Meetinghouse until the winter of 1844 when a mob of anti-abolitionists broke up a meeting, and the Quaker Meeting membership banned the group from its meetinghouse.
In 1845 an association of abolitionists purchased the land and built a hall next to the Meetinghouse, which they called the Free Hall and later the People’s Hall. The group declared that “every question, creed, or race was welcome on our platform,” and above the platform was the motto “Let Truth and Error grapple.”
Lionville Historic District
Lionville was the location of the homestead of well-known abolitionist and active member of the Underground Railroad, John Vickers. The homestead lies northeast on Welsh Pool Road, where his family began making pottery in 1822.
His father, Thomas, was an original member of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, which was formed in Philadelphia in 1777 with Benjamin Franklin as its first president.