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Bellefonte Gazette February 12 2005, page 4
Underground Railroad in Bellefonte
By Candace Morris Dannaker
"Can you keep a secret? Well, some Bellefonte citizens kept secrets for many years about families helping black slaves on their journey via the "Underground' Railroad" through the Appalachian mountains to Canada and freedom.
The term Underground Railroad began being used after fugitives would disappear and it was said "they must have gone underground."
Slaves were considered as private property and it was daring and dangerous to assist them. If you were caught helping slaves escape you were arrested. The punishment could be a jail sentence and $1000.00 flat fine and $1,000.00 per each slave recaptured. That is a lot of money today, it was a fortune then and could cost a family everything they had worked long and hard to earn. If you were a free black caught aiding in this activity, the punishment could 'be' selling you into slavery.
However, there were some who felt it was their moral obligation to help these men, women and children break from the bondage of slavery Needless to say, this secret activity was done quietly, and after the "Fugitive Slave Act of 1850", any written material that existed about routes and helpers was destroyed to avoid being arrested and suffering the consequences of those extraordinary fines.
The stories that are known began with family members telling, other family members the stories, creating the oral history that has survived. This has been the primary source of tracking reputed "Underground Railroad Stations." This oral history, coupled with as much background information as can be verified has been used to validate the stories and sites.
Some sites and citizens in Bellefonte that have been verified are:
The A.M.E. Church (African Methodist Episcopal) located on Halfmoon Hill. The free blacks of the A.M.E. Church were actively helping move the fugitives from site to site. Records written after the Civil War recorded some of the stories of helping fugitives escape. The church was used to hide the slaves until safe passage could be found. Churches were considered safe sanctuaries because no one could be arrested while inside the church.
W. A. Thomas, Quaker Iron Master in Bellefonte was the President of the Underground Railroad in Centre County He donated the property on Halfmoon Hill were the A.M.E. Church was built in 1839. Mr. Thomas personally helped some fugitives and his home is identified as a site. It is not clear at which home the activity took place. He owned the "Wrens Nest" on Potter Street, overlooking Spring Creek as well as a home on Slaughter House Road that also overlooks Spring Creek.
The Linn House on North Allegheny Street (now home to the Bellefonte Museum) is another reputed site. The escaped slaves were hidden on the third floor in-a storage room under the eaves of the house.
The Samuel Harris House on the corner of Penn and Howard Street. Samuel was a cabinet maker and Undertaker. The fugitives were also hidden in a storage room on the third floor. Interesting footnotes about the occupants of the house are that Samuel Harris's wife Nancy Petrikin was the sister of B. Rush Petrikin, one of the earliest recorded Abolitionists in Centre County and also a stationmaster on the UGRR in Patton. Township.
In a 1830 census, recorded as a member of the Samuel Harris household is a free Negro female. We can only speculate her role in keeping the secrets that would assure safety, for the sheltered fugitives.
There are other reputed sites in Bellefonte and perhaps someday we will know even more secrets of the people of Bellefonte, both free black and white, who aided fugitive slaves in escaping to Canada during the dark and dangerous days of slavery. Most important, is to recognize the courage of the early citizens of Bellefonte who helped others find the freedom guaranteed in the "land of the free and home of the brave."
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