JACKSONVILLE, Ill. (WAND) - Woodlawn Farm was built in 1824. Visitors can tour the home to see what life was like in the 19th century.
But the home has a different history as well. The farm served as a stop on the underground railroad, for slaves escaping from the South to Canada.
"Missouri was a slave state and St. Louis was a slave auction area, so runaway slaves knew that if they wanted to get away as a family, they were going to have to break free and then try to get North and that's that's why a lot of it came up through Illinois," said Terry Maggart, the Chairperson of the Woodlawn Farm Underground Railroad Committee.
Because the stop was a secret, the committee doesn't know just how many people used the stop. The most they can confirm, is a group of three people.
"The youngest daughter of the house heard a baby crying at the front door, and when she looked down from the top of the stairs, she saw four people talking to her dad," explained Barbara Suelter, Treasurer of the Woodlawn Farm Underground Railroad Committee. "One was a white man, one was a black man, one was a mulatto woman, and the other was a baby... when the girl asked her mom who the people were, she was told she could never share the story."
The daughter kept the story a secret, until after the Civil War, when she wrote an essay about the incident that was published in the local paper. When the house went up for sale in 2003, the Committee purchased the home to create the museum.
Anyone can visit the museum, but Suelter, who used to be a teacher and superintendent, thinks educating local students is the most interesting.
"They learn about these things in school, but it's different when you go on a field trip and you can see where they lived, you can stand where the slaves once stood," said Suelter.
The family that owned the farm was unique for the time because they employed free black people. This meant they were able to disguise escaping slaves by having them live in the same spaces.
In honor of Black History Month, Woodlawn Farm is hosting an open house on February 25. People in historical costumes will take visitors around the house and tell the stories of the property.
Find more information about the open house on Woodlawn's Facebook.
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