Museum plans Underground Railroad bus tours

Staff report

WARREN

The Sutliff Museum’s annual One Day Bus Tours program will begin this month. Each of the three tours will go to sites of Underground Railroad activity in the mid-1800s.

All tours will originate at the Walmart parking lot off Elm Road. The price of each tour includes transportation, driver’s tip, admission fees, tour guides and snacks and bottled water on the bus. Brief lectures on the bus will provide information on the Underground Railroad in Ohio and Trumbull County.

Registrations are being accepted for all three trips. Call 330-856-6293 to receive a form, download one at sutliffmuseum.org, or pick one up between 2 and 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, at the Sutliff Museum, located on the second floor of the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library, 444 Mahoning Ave. NW.

Here is the schedule:

Flushing, St. Clairsville and Mount Pleasant, Ohio, May 17: At Flushing, the Underground Railroad Museum’s extensive collection of artifacts and documents tells of fugitive slaves, slave hunters and the efforts of the Underground Railroad to help the former and mislead the latter. After lunch at Mehlman Cafeteria in St. Clairsville, John Mattox, director of the Underground Railroad Museum, will be a step-on guide telling of anti-slavery activity in the area the bus travels through to the old Quaker town of Mount Pleasant. Bus leaves at 8 a.m. and returns by 6 p.m.; $47, due Saturday.

Lake County, June 18: After a brief stop at the Lake County Historical Society Museum in Painesville, a step-on guide will lead the tour to sites such as the historic town square where an abolitionist was tarred and feathered, houses that were stations on the Underground Railroad and the Fairport Harbor point of departure for many escapees fleeing to Canada. After a buffet lunch at the museum’s Heritage Hall, there will be a museum tour. Bus leaves at 8:30 a.m. and returns by 6 p.m.; $57, due June 11.

Sandusky, July 17: Two Victorian houses will be toured: the 1834 Follett House Museum, and the 1844 Cooke-Dorn House. Lunch will be in downtown Sandusky. The tour also includes the Maritime Museum, and a step-on guide who will narrate a driving tour of Underground Railroad sites. Bus leaves at 8:30 a.m. and returns by 6 p.m.; $47, due July 10.