CHESTERFIELD, N.Y. (WCAX) – A leg iron displayed at the North Star Underground Railroad Museum serves as a stark reminder of the North Country’s role in America’s freedom network that helped enslaved people escape to Canada.
“This is a physical reminder, yes, and I am sure when this person, whether it was a gentleman — guessing so, because of the size of it — got it off, felt like the weight of the world was off of him,” said Jacqueline Madison, president of the North Country Underground Railroad Historical Association.
The leg iron is among the few physical objects documenting the Underground Railroad’s presence in the North Country, according to Madison. “It was a system of sharing information, knowing where to go and linking up with people that were part of that Abolitionist cause,” she said.
The Underground Railroad began operating in the region in 1830, during a time when the North Country was home to both abolitionist Quakers and slave owners. Madison said hundreds of thousands of people journeyed north seeking safe passage to Canada.
One such person was Lavinia Bell, who was kidnapped from her free parents in Washington, D.C. and taken south as a child to grow up as a slave. Years later, the slave owner’s wife provided Bell with information that would lead to her freedom.
“His wife is very upset with him for doing this to Lavinia, so she tells Lavinia to follow the North Star and points it out to her,” Madison explained.
After several unsuccessful attempts, Bell eventually made her way through the North Country to Rouses Point, where a man paid for her train ticket to Montreal.
The Underground Railroad’s path continued to be used after slavery ended. In 1882, the United States’ Chinese Exclusion Act led many Chinese immigrants to cross the northern border into New York, only to be captured and jailed. One such jail was located in Port Henry.
“The jail house, over 600 individuals at the time, and some of those places they kept them were like cages, they weren’t very big, it wasn’t like a room,” Madison said.
Years later, police logs with photographs of detainees were discovered by a local historian. The discovery led to an emotional reunion when Amy Chin visited the museum and found her grandfather, Bok Ying Chin, in the records.
“She was so thrilled and so in awe that she digitized both of those books, and they are online,” Madison said.
In the 21st century, Madison said the Underground Railroad path has again been used by migrants heading through Roxham Road in Champlain, New York, into Canada or south into the United States.
“People want freedom, but they also want to be in a safe place. But they also want to have the security of knowing their families and themselves that they also will be able to sustain their lives,” Madison said.
Madison said the different eras of human struggle documented at the museum demonstrate the strength of the human spirit.
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