How a 200-year-old Underground Railroad stop was just discovered in New York City
For the first time in over a century, historians say a new stop on the Underground Railroad has been discovered, fully intact, in New York City.
The site is hidden in the Merchant's House Museum, the only 19th-century home in Manhattan with both its interior and exterior preserved.
Tucked away in the walls on the second-floor is a chest of drawers that visitors have walked past for decades. But inside one of the drawer shelves is a hidden passageway -- just barely large enough for an upright person to fit through, leading 15 feet underground.
Museum staff have known about the existence of the passageway since the 1930s. However, they were only able to officially link it to the now-iconic Underground Railroad recently, after years of research.
That journey began two years ago when the museum's historian, Ann Haddad, discovered that the builder and designer of the house, Joseph Brewster, was an abolitionist. That set off a muti-pronged effort by staff, volunteers and outside experts to research everything from general history of New York City, Brewster's life and architecture of the time.
"I've cold-called many academics and said, like, 'I have this thing, like, will you listen to me talk and I get your feedback on it?' Just because, you know, it just felt so big that we really wanted to ask and ask and ask," Camille Czerkowicz, the Merchant House's Curator & Collections Manager, told ABC News.
One of the most exciting discoveries came when they learned of Brewster's connections to integrated churches in New York.
"He sold this house to become an elder at this church, and we learned from church archives that Brewster actually approved the construction of a false floor in the church that he had built, "Emily Hill-Wright, the museum's Director of Operations, told ABC News. "And so to me, that was a really compelling piece of evidence, because it showed that this is not just a one-off, that Brewster has a pattern of putting sort of these hiding spaces in buildings that he has constructed."
At the time of the house's building in the 1830s, the city was staunchly pro-slavery, even as slavery had been abolished in New York. Assisting freedom seekers was illegal, and pro-slavery riots and kidnappings abounded.
In addition to the immense dangers faced by Black Americans, Hill-Wright explained, "Anyone with a known connection to anti-slavery work or abolition was a target, and your life could be in danger."
While Brewster's feats were noble, they were not isolated. Anti-slavery efforts at the time were led by the Black community, said Czerkowicz and Hill-Wright. The museum is continuing to research what organizations and individuals may have been involved in assisting Brewster with the home's construction.
The Merchant's House is now the earliest known site of Underground Railroad activity in New York City, according to the museum.
On the significance of this discovery, Hill-Wright said, "By necessity, of course, these spaces were incredibly secretive, and so today, there are very, very, very few intact spaces like this one. Many Underground Railroad sites have other types of documentation, whether it's really strong oral history or, very rarely, there are written records, but it is very rare to have a physical space like ours that is as intact as our space is."
Having always offered visitors a look into domestic life for a merchant and his family in the 19th century, the Merchant's House is now working to broaden its offerings for this new layer of historical significance. Museum staff are continuing their research, and Czerkowicz and Hill-Wright hope that sharing their discovery with the public will allow for new opportunities in that effort.
The museum remains open to the public, with plexiglass soon to be installed around the Underground Railroad site so anyone may come to see it.
