Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park

The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park, located in Dorchester County on Maryland's Eastern Shore, preserves and interprets the landscape where Harriet Tubman was born into slavery around 1822, labored until her first escape in 1849, and returned repeatedly over the following decade to lead approximately seventy enslaved people to freedom along the Underground Railroad. The park's visitor center at 4068 Golden Hill Road in Church Creek opened in 2017 and was built to LEED Platinum environmental standards, with exhibits spanning three interconnected galleries that trace Tubman's life chronologically — from her birth on the Brodess Farm in Dorchester County through her years as a conductor on the Underground Railroad and her service as a Union Army scout and spy during the Civil War. The facility's design references the natural landscape of the Dorchester marshes, which provided the concealment that made Tubman's escapes possible; large exterior windows orient views toward the same tidal wetlands she navigated by night using the North Star and seasonal landmarks. The park does not preserve specific structures from Tubman's era, as the farms and dwellings have not survived, but the flat agricultural landscape of the Blackwater watershed retains the same terrain she traveled. A 125-mile Harriet Tubman Byway driving tour connects seventeen historically documented sites across Dorchester and Caroline counties, including the location of the Brodess Farm, the Bazel Church she attended, and the marsh crossing routes she used repeatedly in darkness. The adjacent Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, three miles south of the visitor center, is one of the best bald eagle viewing sites on the Atlantic coast and offers a marsh wildlife drive that extends a visit naturally. Admission to the visitor center and all byway sites is free.