Exploring Tubman's Eastern Shore

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Cambridge, Maryland, is a peaceful oasis. There's a gentle rustle of wind through the marsh grasses, moving like waves across the landscape. In the distance, a bald eagle mated pair sits proudly on a loblolly pine. Closer to the dock, large mounds made of sticks and mud tell us that muskrats are occupying this land. Today, this place is a sanctuary for migratory birds. Two hundred years ago, this terrain was the birthplace of one of the most important and recognized abolitionists of all time and the starting point of a harrowing journey to escape the chains of slavery.

Born in Dorchester County, Maryland, around 1822, Harriet Tubman liberated herself and others on the Underground Railroad, a network of unmarked routes and safe houses. She eventually led around 70 of her relatives and friends to freedom, risking her life on more than a dozen trips between the free states to the north and her native Maryland, a slave-owning state.

Tubman was noted as having strong faith and maintaining connections with watermen along the Bay to aid in her quest for freedom. But she was also a talented naturalist, utilizing her experiences and knowledge of her surroundings to navigate forest, marsh and river systems almost entirely at night. To better understand the landscape through Tubman's eyes, we traveled to the Eastern Shore to explore what's stayed the same—and what's at risk of being lost.

Life in Tubman's Dorchester County

Tubman, born Araminta "Minty" Ross, was born into slavery and separated from her mother to be hired out for work at the age of six. She regularly experienced violence from enslavers and nearly died after the overseer at the Bucktown Village Store threw an iron weight that hit her in the head, causing long-term seizures. In 1849, with almost complete certainty of being sold south after her enslaver's death, Tubman fled for her life and her freedom on the Underground Railroad.

Tubman eventually became a conductor in this network, which involved guiding enslaved people to free cities like Philadelphia or into Canada as she had once done to liberate herself. The risk was incredibly high. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 required that enslaved people be returned to their enslavers, even if they had taken refuge in a free state. Travel was challenging, especially during the day. Many freedom seekers, Tubman included, utilized the cover of night and the light of one distant star to lead the way.

This strategy is depicted in the "Take My Hand" mural on the side of the Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center in downtown Cambridge. Michael Rosato, the Cambridge artist who created the mural, masterfully captures the setting of the sun, the North Star and Dorchester County's waterways—all of which Tubman used to navigate northward.

Alex Green, who co-owns and operates Harriet Tubman Tours with Lisa Green, unpacks the wintery sunset scene in the "Take My Hand" mural.

"The Underground Railroad worked during October, November, December and January. There were longer nights and shorter days. They took that opportunity to have more time to get to freedom," says Green.

Under the Cover of Night

To navigate under cover of night, Tubman and other freedom seekers looked to the skies to find the North Star, Polaris, which remains in the same position year-round. As such, it was used as a natural compass that always pointed to the true north and freedom.

To find the star, which was part of the Little Dipper constellation, Tubman would have looked for the "drinking gourd." The constellation was said to look like a cup with a long handle, reminiscent of hollowed-out gourds used for drinking water. "Follow the Drinking Gourd" was later turned into an American folk song in the 1920s and the phrase was utilized during the Civil Rights movement.

Despite being prevented from learning how to read or write, many enslaved people on the Chesapeake Bay knew how to read the skies due to maritime navigation. Tubman, who worked transporting goods to ships at local wharves, gained knowledge of the stars by communicating with black mariners.

Navigating the Waters

Last year, Harriet Tubman's legacy was celebrated on the Aquarium's campus by unveiling Network to Freedom signage, commemorating the story of Tubman and a young, enslaved woman named Tilly. Over a hundred years before the opening of the Aquarium, Pier 4 was once known as Dugan's Wharf, a popular commercial port that was the site of one of Tubman's most daring escape plans in 1856.

With her knowledge of the Underground Railroad and the waterways surrounding the Chesapeake, Tubman successfully guided Tilly to freedom on the steamboat Kent, which departed from Baltimore and traveled north on the Nanticoke River.

Before Tubman escaped from Dorchester County, she worked with her father in the timber fields near Parson's Creek, where she met Black sailors who transported goods to Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania. Well-traveled and connected, they not only shared their knowledge of constellations and navigation but became critical in communicating information throughout the Underground Railroad network.

Tubman's experience navigating her aquatic surroundings began as a young girl, checking muskrat traps in the icy winter waters of Little Blackwater River.

"Prior to being a refuge, [Blackwater] was a muskrat farm," says Jim Rapp of Delmarva Birding Weekends who co-leads the Birding the Harriet Tubman Byway tour with Alex and Lisa Green.

Chaney Dale, ranger manager at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park, explained the importance of the marsh grasses—which can reach over 6 feet tall—to Tubman's daring passages.

"Having grasses growing up like that would help you hide," he said. "This land has been preserved to how it was during her time here. We like to think if Miss Tubman came back today, she would be able to navigate through here."

Follow the Birds

As Tubman traversed the swaths of forest and marshes on her travels, she needed a signal to alert her passengers of potential danger nearby. Tubman utilized the hoot of the barred owl, which sounds much like the phrase 'Who cooks for you?' The impersonation of this call helped Tubman relay information without alerting others of her presence.

"When she was out here at night, she couldn't talk as we're talking or use lights, but she could use sounds of nature to communicate with the people she was with," says Rapp.

Barred owls still reside in this area, as do great blue herons, blackbirds, osprey and other birds Tubman would have encountered.

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge is also a critical habitat for migratory birds, with some 35,000 geese and 15,000 ducks stopping there each year on their fall migration. Migratory birds helped guide freedom seekers depending on the season, with birds heading north in the spring and summer and south in the fall.

Nature Is Survival

From Dorchester County, travelers on the Underground Railroad had to find food and medicine in their surroundings to survive the nearly 90-mile trek to freedom. Tubman was familiar with local flora and fauna, eventually curing soldiers of dysentery during the Civil War with a tea made from roots and herbs. Her father introduced her to the sweetgum tree, which she used to heal infections with its resin and leaves. She also knew how to utilize a natural tincture made from opium poppies to quiet babies.

Many enslaved people used their experience with foraging, fishing and trapping to supplement their meals while traveling on the Underground Railroad. Tubman was said to harvest tadpoles from the marsh and swamps to consume while she was enslaved. She and other freedom seekers also probably foraged for berries, pawpaw, persimmon and sassafras and hunted small animals on the Underground Railroad to supplement the little food they could carry.

A Legacy at Risk

Many experts agree that Tubman's attention to and memory of the details of her landscape helped her succeed in guiding 70 people to freedom. While the wildlife and farmlands are similar to her time in Dorchester County, the waterways are not.

Today, due to climate change, ghost forests and loss of marsh habitat are becoming more prevalent in Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. The Chesapeake Bay watershed is one of the most vulnerable areas to sea level rise in the United States, having risen about one foot in the last century. As the Bay's saltwater floods the marshes and encroaches into forests, the roots of trees eventually die, leaving behind so-called ghost forests that are unable to grow or reproduce.

"You are seeing land subsidence and sea level rise. Dorchester County is probably the most recognizable place in the state of Maryland to see the effects of this," warned Rapp. "The marsh has really been receding."

Looking Forward

Blackwater's 27,000 acres host a third of Maryland's tidal marshes. There, you can spot over 35 species of reptiles and amphibians, mammals like otters and foxes, and over 250 species of birds, including one of the largest American bald eagle breeding populations. You can watch osprey regularly soaring from their nests or muskrats bounding into marsh grasses while listening to a chorus of frogs. And you can imagine Harriet Tubman, a young girl, traversing and checking traps across the icy waters or leading a group of freedom seekers to a new life up north.

Tubman's legacy and Blackwater are inextricably linked, and both are at risk of being lost. The consequences of climate change are already being felt, but some strategies can help communities adapt—including interconnected green spaces, improved policies and better infrastructure design. We also know that healthy coastal habitats reduce flooding, erosion and storm surges.

By paying more attention to the land around us, as Harriet Tubman once did as an act of survival, we can continue to protect the legacies and stories of those who came before us while preserving their marvels for years to come.

Get Involved

Want to get involved and help preserve our beautiful Chesapeake Bay region? The National Aquarium relies on volunteers to support our conservation events, which include tree plantings, cleanups, BioBlitzes and more. Sign up for our conservation newsletter to receive updates about upcoming events throughout the year.