PORTLAND FREEDOM TRAIL

I visited the first marker of the Portland Freedom Trail on March 26th 2008. It is located at the intersection of Congress Street and Mountfort Street. It is located on the sidewalk in front of Eastern Cemetery.
OBSERVATIONS: When looking at the Alonzo Stinson memorial within the Eastern Cemetery, I noticed this monument on the sidewalk outside the cemetery fence. (seen in the photo) It is a monument marker explaining how the Underground Railroad in Portland helped runaway slaves. The monument is exeptionally in good shape as it was erected only a few years prior. But I noticed that passerbys did not notice or even care what the monument said or if it even existed.

"The City of Portland officially proclaimed the establishment of the Portland Freedom Trail on November 9, 2006 with the installation of a granite and bronze marker at the Eastern Cemetery. The cemetery was chosen as the first site to be unveiled on the trail in honor of the final resting place of many of Portland’s abolitionist leaders. The marker is one of sixteen that will constitute a permanent walking trail highlighting the people, places, events and daily life associated with the Underground Railroad and anti-slavery movement in Portland." - From the Website

The markers are located as follows:

MARKER LOCATIONS:
1. Franklin Street WharfCasco Bay Lines
2. Barber Shop of Jacob C. Dickson243 Fore Street
3. Hack Stand of Charles H. L. Pierre29 Middle Street
4. Abyssinian Church73 Newbury Street
5. Home of Charles Frederick, Harriet Stephenson Eastman, and Alexander StephensonCorner of Mountfort and Newbury Streets
6. Eastern CemeteryCorner of Congress and Mountfort Streets
7. Home of Elias and Elizabeth Widgery ThomasCorner of India and Congress Streets
8. Home of General Samuel C. Fessenden31 India Street
9. Friends (Quaker) Meeting HouseLincoln Park corner of Federal and Pearl Streets
10. Hack Stand of Reuben RubyCorner of Federal and Temple Streets
11. First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church 425 Congress Street
12. Secondhand Clothing Store of Lloyd Scott44 Exchange Street
13. Mariners' ChurchCorner of Fore and Market Streets

The Portland Freedom Trail was part of the Underground Railroad, a vast network of people who helped fugitive slave escape to the North as far as Canada.
Many individuals, black and white aided these fugitive slaves to escape with a total of a few hundred slaves each year between the years of 1810-1850 and had an overall number of over 100,000 slaves moved north in the forty year span.
The leader that "invented" and kept the Underground Railroad going included predonimate names like had many notable participants like Levi Coffin, and Harriet Tubman who alone were responsible form helping over 3,000 slaves escape to freedom.
The first part of the runaway slaves’ journeys was to escape their master by using a fellow slave to guide them. They would move at night and trek ten to twenty miles before stopping at a home to hide for the day. This Underground Railroad was a home or barn or the like that the slaves could hide as they hid from the authorities. This of course was very illegal for the slave and the individual or individuals aiding them. These safe houses were marked with special signals that only a slave or guide would recognize so they would stop and stay if being followed by bounty hunters. The signals could be disguised as anything, most commonly; the home owner would put out a blanket on the clothes line that a runaway slave would recognize.
The slaves had other modes of transportation other than just their feet, i.e. train, boat. These modes of transportation and different attire for the slaveswere funded by members of the Underground Railroad donations raised by and differned groups and committees hellbent on helping the slaves attain freedom. These groups were mostly in the North, and were founded in cities like Boston, Portland, and New York.
This entire process led up toward Maine and these markers are the proof that the homes in and around down town Portland helped to hide these runaway slaves and the good people inhabiting these homes helped break the chains of slavery.



REFERENCES:http://www.portlandfreedomtrail.org/
http://www.polarbearandco.com/mainedem/ft.html
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/j1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_Railroad