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Underground Railroad Experience Trail

Volunteers | Self-Guided Tours

Woodlawn Manor Cultural Park
Runaway Slave Image16501 Norwood Road, Sandy Spring, MD 20860
The Underground Railroad Experience Trail hikes commemorate the involvement of Montgomery County residents in the Underground Railroad and celebrates the Quaker heritage and traditions of Sandy Spring. Guided hikes of the Underground Railroad Experience Trail have ended for the 2009 season. Please join us next year when the guided hikes will resume in April 2010.

US Park Service National Underground Railroad Network to Feedom symbolThe Underground Railroad Experience Trail is part of the National Park Service National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program.

Volunteers

Volunteer guides lead groups on Underground Railroad trail, 2005FREE Volunteer Guide Training
Underground Railroad Experience Trail

Saturday, March 20, 2010
9:00am - 2:30pm

Woodlawn Manor Cultural Park
16501 Norwood Road, Sandy Spring, MD 20860
Register online by March 15 (Apply at ParksVolunteers.org)

Step back in time and become an Underground Railroad conductor! Volunteer to be a trail guide for the Underground Railroad Experience Trail in Sandy Spring, Md.! The Underground Railroad Experience Trail hikes commemorate the involvement of Montgomery County residents in the Underground Railroad and celebrate the Quaker heritage and traditions of Sandy Spring. Training session includes a guided hike on the trail. Dress for inclement weather. Please sign up by March 15 to be eligible for this training session.
Volunteers must be 16 years of age or older, and be able to commit to six Saturdays (or weekdays) per the season through November 6.  Volunteers are especially needed to provide tours during the week for school groups.  SSL hours are eligible. Training will be held at Woodlawn Manor Cultural Park. For more information, contact 301-650-4373.

 

Self-Guided Tours

Underground Railroad Experience Trail Viciinty MapUnderground Railroad Experience Trail

Trail map

This 2.0 mile trail is natural surface and includes interpretive sign markers keyed to the trail map that may be downloaded from this site. Trail stops include Woodlawn Manor and Barn and the Sandy Spring itself. One half-mile north of the spring is a 300 year-old Champion White Ash tree.

The time is the 1850s. The Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, have helped make Sandy Spring a prosperous farming and commercial center. The Friends Meeting House, built in 1817, is the center of religious and community life. Even though slavery will not be abolished in Maryland until 1864, Maryland Quakers outlawed the owning of slaves by its members in 1777. In Sandy Spring, free blacks own their own homes and have organized churches, schools, and an array of social clubs although such public gatherings are extremely dangerous in this anti-abolitionist county.

Local patrols and slave catchers stalk the fields and woods. Quakers and free blacks assist escaping slaves via the secret “Underground Railroad”— a system of people and places organized to help slaves escape to freedom. Now you must travel through woods and skirt the edges of farm fields to safely reach the Sandy Spring itself. Can you do it?

Last updated: December 29, 2009