Underground Railroad Registration open for 1-day bus tour in Ohio

Staff report

WARREN

Registration is open and seats still are available for the Sutliff Museum’s one-day bus tours to Underground Railroad sites throughout Ohio.

The May and June trips will cost $47, and July, $60, and covers transportation, admissions, snacks, guides and insurance. The bus for each tour will depart at 8:30 a.m. and return at 6 p.m. to the parking lot at Wal-Mart, 2016 Millennium Blvd. Each trip is limited to 42 people; early registration is encouraged.

A May 24 trip will visit the Hubbard House Underground Railroad Museum in Ashtabula County. The history of the Underground Railroad in the county and across the Connecticut Western Reserve will be highlighted; the group will explore Civil War artifacts, county history and the Underground Railroad exhibit in the museum’s Americana Collection. After lunch on Bridge Street, the group will travel to Jefferson and explore sites visited by abolitionists Joshua Giddings and John Brown.

The Spring Hill Underground Railroad Experience will offer guests a chance to play the role of freedom seekers or runaway slaves during a June 25 trip. There will be extensive walking on uneven ground. The house is open for tours after the reenactment. After lunch in downtown Massillon, there will be a visit to the Massillon Museum to explore its photographs, textiles and clothing, china, glass, pottery, domestic appliances and circus memorabilia collections.

A July 13 trip will travel to Salem, and a Salem Historical Society docent dressed as a Salem Quaker will take guests to the year 1856 during a trolley tour of the city. The plight of slaves, the organization of the Underground Railroad and the flourishing abolitionist movement in Salem prior to the Civil War will be explored. A screen inside the trolley will display over 100 slides to show photos inside private homes, railroad hiding places and several abolitionists from the area. Lunch will be offered at the Spread Eagle Tavern in Hanoverton.

For more information or to request a registration form for the trips, visit www.sutliffmuseum.org or call 330-395-6575.

The Sutliff Museum, operated by Warren Library Association, is on the second floor of the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library, 444 Mahoning Ave. NW. The museum has free admission and is handicapped accessible. It is open from 2 to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. The museum is a memorial to Levi and Phebe Sutliff, operators of the Underground Railroad in Trumbull County.