ODESSA: Heading north to freedom

I've been interested in the Underground Railroad ever since I wrote a report about Harriet Tubman in the fourth grade, so on March 11 I gave myself the day off from editing and drove down to Odessa, Del., to attend an open house at the Appoquinimink Friends Meeting House. In a hidden attic room of this tiny brick Quaker meeting house, slaves escaping from Maryland could hide until darkness fell and they could head farther north on their journey.
I climbed up the ladder to the attic and with a flashlight peered into the dark hiding space under the eaves, concealed by a panel. The freedom seekers had no heat and certainly no room to stand up. For the open house the Meeting put out some provisions, candles, a blanket and a chamber pot to give an idea of the conditions the slaves endured.
I thought about other chambers where people have hid from persecution over the years: "priest holes" in Great Britain in medieval days, and the Frank family's Secret Annexe in Amsterdam during WWII.
According to the Facebook page of Delaware Historic Preservation (where I got these photographs), "It is reputed that Harriet Tubman frequented this route as she led runaways from Dorchester County on Maryland's Eastern Shore, into Kent County, Delaware near Camden, north through Duck Creek, Blackbird, and to the vicinity of John Hunn's farm, the current site of Middletown High School."
The hostess, a member of Appoquinimink meeting, told us a little about the history of the meeting (which is still open for First Day worship) and about abolitionists in Delaware.
She asked where I was from and when I said I lived near London Grove Friends Meeting, she told me she had visited there two summers ago under somewhat dramatic circumstances. While she and her husband were driving through Chester County, a sudden cloudburst with ferocious wind hit. She was terrified and insisted that her husband pull off the road. They stopped at London Grove Meeting and sat on the bench on the porch until the storm abated. She said she left a note on the door thanking the Meeting for serving as a refuge.

The Appoquinimink Friends Meeting House, built in 1785.

This is the opening to the attic space where the Freedom Seekers hid.