 Freedom Crossing
by Margaret Goff Clark
based in Lewiston, New York
Every year, thousands of students read the popular book,
Freedom Crossing, by Margaret Goff Clark (deceased). The story involves the
Underground Railroad which was a secret network of trails and homes
that helped slaves from the Southern United States escape to Canada in
the early to mid-1800s.
The story takes place in Lewiston, New York, which was the
final stop for escaping slaves from the South. Once they reached
Lewiston, they only had to take a boat ride across the Niagara River to
Canada, and freedom! But it wasn't easy. There were slave
catchers and bounty hunters who were hired to capture the slaves and
take them back to the South. It was very treacherous for the
slaves and the volunteer citizens who helped them.
Lewiston's citizens hated slavery and many of them
volunteered to help smuggle thousands of slaves across the
border. There was a code of silence and the people of Lewiston
never trusted or spoke to outsiders about their secret
activities. It is estimated that thousands of slaves were smuggled
through Lewiston and made their way to the Canadian shore and freedom.
The story happened in Lewiston, New York. Where is Lewiston located?
Lewiston is a real town and is located 7 miles north of Niagara Falls,
New York. It is situated on the Niagara River, across the river
from Canada. The river is about 1500 feet wide. Actually,
the world famous Niagara Falls started in Lewiston 12,000 years and has
eroded south 7 miles since then. So when you look at the Niagara
River from Lewiston, you are really looking at water that has already
gone over Niagara Falls and is flowing north to Lake Ontario and
eventually to the Atlantic Ocean. Today, about 3000 people live
in the Village of Lewiston, and 16,000 people live in the Town of
Lewiston which surrounds the Village.
Was there really a place called Tryon's Folly?
Yes! And it is still there. The Freedom Crossing book
called it the House with 4 Cellars. Some call it the House of the
7 Cellars. It's all in how you look at the configuration of the
multi-leveled home. It was built on Lower River Road in 1830 by
Amos Tryon (1791-1874), Josiah's older brother. The original home
was to have housed a business and a new homestead for Amos' wife Sally
Barton, who was Benjamin Barton's (a prominent citizen) daughter.
However, Sally refused to move from their existing home on 4th and
Center Street. So, it was called Tryon's Folly after that.
But when Josiah figured out that the house was an ideal spot to hide
and smuggle slaves, the house was put to use. You can see some
pictures on this webpage of what the inside of the basements look like
today. Tryon's Folly has a multi-leveled interconnecting
basement, containing several separate rooms, that could easily hide
slaves. The original home had a fire in 1900 and a new structure was
built on old foundations in 1915. It is a private residence today
and not publicly accessible, so these rare pictures, taken in August
2005, are the closest you will get to see what it is really like.
Was Laura a real person? Was Martin a real person?
No, they were not real people, but they could have been.
Everything Laura and Martin did in the book could have really
happened. The author made them up as pretend characters to help
readers understand how the slaves were hidden, how slave catchers tried
to catch them, and how local citizens, like Laura, helped the slaves
escape to freedom across the river in Canada. So everything you
read in the book was very close to being the real thing. Dozens
of people helped the slaves escape, but since the whole thing was a
secret there was nothing recorded in books or on paper that provided
names of the people involved. However, we do know that Josiah
Tryon was very active.
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Tryon's Folly
This is old picture of Tryon's Folly taken in the winter time.
(Pictures taken in the summer don't show much because the trees and
bushes cover it up.) This picture was taken from the Niagara
River and shows the back of the house. You can see the different
levels of the basements. The basements could have been easily
disguised as place to do business for Amos and Josiah Tryon because it
was close to the river and they could have transported goods back and
forth from the river. But in reality, it was place to hide and
help escaping slaves get to Canada and freedom.
That's Canada across the Niagara River. In the bottom right,
you'll see the lowest basement in Tryon's Folly. If you were a
slave, and were at Tryon's Folly during the day, this is what Canada
would have looked liked. As soon as you arrived on the other side
of the river, you would be free! At this point you would be about
60 feet above the river and would have to make it down some treacherous
paths to reach your boat. (Remember that many slaves could not
see Canada because they arrived and took a boat across very late at
night when there was no light. For many, the first time they
saw, or felt, Canada was when their small row boat actually hit the Canadian
shoreline.) |
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Here is a passageway inside the basement complex of
Tryon's Folly. At the end is a window where slaves could look out
and see Canada.
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Here is a secret stairway inside Tryon's Folly that
would have taken slaves from one level of the basement to a lower level
of next basement.
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(above at top right) Here is an
entrance to a secret room within the basement complex. When
covered, it would be very hard to see the opening because of the way it
was positioned.
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Laura Eastman's home was on Ridge Road. Is that really a place?
Yes, there really is a Ridge Road, known as Route 104. However,
it not clear if the author of the book had a particular house in
mind. Many of the old homes on Ridge Road that are still
standing, could have been ideal hideaways for the slaves. So the
story has some basis of truth.
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(above at bottom right) Here is view of
the entrance from inside the secret room. It is a dirt floor and
is large enough to have hidden up to 30 slaves easily. It would
have been difficult to find them if the opening was covered with
regular supplies, like wooden beams, or sacks of food.
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Josiah Tryon was mentioned in the book Freedom Crossing. Was he a real person?
Yes, Josiah (pronounced Joe-si-ah) Tryon, Jr., was a real person and he
was the secret volunteer
"station master" for Lewiston's part in the Underground Railroad. He
was born in Weathersfield, Connecticut, in 1798 and lived until
1886. He moved to Lewiston with his wife, Mary, in 1835. He
was a tailor in
Lewiston and he and his fellow citizens hid and guided slaves to
freedom in Canada. Since this was all done in secret, very little
is written about their activities. However, Josiah and other
citizens took hundreds, probably thousands, of slaves across the river
to Canada in row boats in the middle of the night. But even
before they got to the river, the slaves were hidden in area homes,
like
Laura hid Martin in her home in the book Freedom Crossing.
Was there really a Presbyterian Church that was a hiding place for slaves?
Yes, and the church is still there. It is located at 5th and
Cayuga Street. Another local church was also used to hide slaves
and that was the Episcopal Church at 469 Plain Street, which is now the
home of the Historical Association's Lewiston Museum. It's just a
short distance from the Presbyterian Church.
Here is an old picture taken in the late 1800s or early 1900s of the
Presbyterian Church in Lewiston, where many slaves were hidden. The
church is still standing and it is still owned by the Presbyterians. In
the story, Freedom Crossing, the Presbyterian Church is the place were
Laura and her brother first noticed their carriage had been stolen when
they saw it being used to take a slave away. Local residents referred
to the slaves as "strangers" so as to not reveal their identity and
keep them safe.
Why do they call it the Underground Railroad?
They called it the Underground Railroad, even though it wasn't a
railroad. The "trains" were the large farm wagons that could conceal
and carry a number of slaves. The "tracks" were the back county
roads which were used to evade the slave catchers. The "stations"
were the homes and churches where the slaves were fed and cared for as
they moved along. The "conductors" were the fearless men and
women of both races who led the slaves toward freedom, and the
"passengers" or "parcels" were the slaves who dared to break for
liberty.
You can review and obtain these
books about the stories of escaping slaves and the Underground Railroad
by clicking on these links:
Freedom Crossing
If You Travelled on the Underground Railroad
Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky
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Here is an old picture of Josiah Tryon's Tailor Shop next to 441 Center
Street Lewiston. It is the small building on the right. It
is no longer standing and there is no record of when it was built or
what became of it. (The place were his shop was is now a parking
lot for a popular restaurant.) Josiah actually made friends
with the slave catchers and made them jackets as gifts. But it
was a trick. The slave catchers did not know that by accepting
Josiah's jackets, which were made of bright colors, that everyone in
town could identify them. When the people of Lewiston saw someone
in a bright jacket, they knew NOT to talk to him about the Underground
Railroad. That's why the slave catchers had a difficult time
getting information from the local citizens about where the slaves were
hiding. None of the local citizens ever betrayed the code of
silence in the Town and everyone kept the slaves hidden and safe until
they left for Canada.
Josiah Tryon is buried in the Village of Lewiston Cemetery next to the
Presbyterian Church at Cayuga and S. 5th Streets. This is his
gravestone. He lived to see the day
when the slaves were freed in the South.
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