{"id":54,"ordinal":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:48:41","content_modified":"2026-04-17 19:48:41","featured":0,"title":"Freedom Bound: Eliza Harris's Escape North","creator":"The Levi and Catharine Coffin Historic Site","description":"<p>The Underground Railroad, a network of people, routes and safe houses that enslaved people used to escape to freedom, is a difficult history to document. This network did not look for recognition and rarely recorded their experiences of aiding freedom seekers as they escaped north to Canada. Secrecy of the routes and those involved was essential to success. The Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850 required escaped enslaved peoples to be returned to their owners even if they were found in a free state. Those supporting the Underground Railroad felt these laws, particularly the requirement that they assist in freedom seekers’ capture, were unjust. These laws also made it difficult for free Blacks to find security and safety because they too lived under the threat of being captured and sold South. Without documentation and a strong network of people who could attest to their status as free, they could have their freedom taken from them. Even with papers and a network, free Blacks could still be kidnapped and sold into slavery. \r\nStates like Indiana and Ohio were instrumental in the development of an Underground Railroad system. Pockets of sympathetic free Black and white settlements throughout these states supported freedom seekers as they came north. Proximity to Kentucky, a state where slavery was legal, meant Indiana and Ohio were attractive to enslaved Black people escaping over the Ohio River. The Indiana and Ohio corridor is the shortest overland distance from the Ohio River to Canada in the north.\r\nEliza Harris, along with her child, were two of thousands enslaved in Kentucky who escaped hoping to find freedom somewhere north of the Ohio River. Eliza and her child fled in the winter of 1838 to Canada where she found a life of freedom. Her journey sheds light on the experience of escaping slavery by relying on the Underground Railroad to provide aid and sustenance on the dangerous and arduous journey north. Her story also reflects the lack of documentation about these experiences. It shows how the lack of definitive evidence has enabled many locations in both Ohio and Indiana to claim a connection to Eliza. While she cannot have physically journeyed to all of the places that claim Eliza as a traveler, these many claims by places in Indiana and Ohio speak clearly to the importance of her story. Her story also helps us understand the many more men, women, and children, whose names we do not know, but who, like Eliza, fought their way north to freedom along the Underground Railroad. \r\nThis tour will take you to several places in Ohio and Indiana that claim a connection to Eliza’s journey. The tour begins, however, with one of the most important novels of the nineteenth century, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which helped white Americans better understand the horrors of enslavement and the risks enslaved peoples took when fleeing the law and their owners. A fictionalized version of Eliza Harris’ experiences is a part of Stowe’s novel. It provides the basis for much of what is known about her. </p>","postscript_text":"","tour_img":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/3a105f7ce1a37fc9d44b714eaabed791.jpg","items":[{"id":542,"title":"Courthouse Square and Mechanics’ Row Historic District","latitude":38.64733199999999868623490328900516033172607421875,"longitude":-83.7661640000000033978722058236598968505859375,"thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/3a105f7ce1a37fc9d44b714eaabed791.jpg","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/3a105f7ce1a37fc9d44b714eaabed791.jpg","subtitle":"Harriet Beecher Stowe’s First Understanding of Slavery in Kentucky","address":"25 West Third Street, Maysville, Kentucky, 41056","custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":543,"title":"John Rankin House","latitude":38.7505589999999955352905089966952800750732421875,"longitude":-83.8432850282437129862955771386623382568359375,"thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/f74d954c03acc23c20f4e336f01bc10e.jpg","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/f74d954c03acc23c20f4e336f01bc10e.jpg","subtitle":"First Stop to Freedom","address":"6152 Rankin Hill Road, Ripley, Ohio, 45167","custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":544,"title":"Red Oak Presbyterian Church and Rev. James Gilliland","latitude":38.80612699999999648525772499851882457733154296875,"longitude":-83.82828200000000151703716255724430084228515625,"thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/4321332d1e3d10c00f1e21a10b5c0cac.jpg","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/4321332d1e3d10c00f1e21a10b5c0cac.jpg","subtitle":"The Railroad Takes Eliza North","address":"5754 Cemetery Road, Brown County, Ohio, 45167 USA","custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":545,"title":"\"Eliza's House\": Home of John Van Zandt","latitude":39.262079999999997426129993982613086700439453125,"longitude":-84.4506300000000038608050090260803699493408203125,"thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/d628374d96b1c2c916540eef8362ef2e.jpg","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/d628374d96b1c2c916540eef8362ef2e.jpg","subtitle":"Slavery and the Law","address":"39.2620800, -84.4506300","custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":546,"title":"Eliza Came Through Here","latitude":39.34863500000000158252078108489513397216796875,"longitude":-83.39654699999999820647644810378551483154296875,"thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/928b410cf9cbd7b69a0b9953381bae91.jpg","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/928b410cf9cbd7b69a0b9953381bae91.jpg","subtitle":"Fayette County's Claim to Eliza Story","address":"259 Jefferson St, Greenfield, OH 45123","custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":547,"title":"Levi and Catharine Coffin State Historic Site","latitude":39.9564510000000012723830877803266048431396484375,"longitude":-84.91757300000000441286829300224781036376953125,"thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/aa45f5d1c9ae5dcae26a3443bf91e4c7.jpg","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/aa45f5d1c9ae5dcae26a3443bf91e4c7.jpg","subtitle":"The Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad","address":"201 US-27, Fountain City, IN 47341","custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":549,"title":"Cabin of Jimmy and Rachel Silliven","latitude":40.4681599999999974670572555623948574066162109375,"longitude":-85.1506700000000051886672736145555973052978515625,"thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/6c3168b8af22c649f4a1022ef6af65a4.jpg","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/6c3168b8af22c649f4a1022ef6af65a4.jpg","subtitle":"Did Eliza Sleep Here?","address":"6670 State Road 1 Pennville, IN 47369","custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":550,"title":"Facer Park - Freedom Coming","latitude":41.458438999999998486600816249847412109375,"longitude":-82.7090280000000035443008528091013431549072265625,"thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/f949ba05b39b9e128aadfecc89519093.jpg","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/f949ba05b39b9e128aadfecc89519093.jpg","subtitle":"Eliza Prepares to Cross into Freedom","address":"301 East Water Street, Sandusky, OH 44870","custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":551,"title":"Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site","latitude":42.58520250000000118006937555037438869476318359375,"longitude":-82.196466200000003254899638704955577850341796875,"thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/c99f98e121aa443bb84ecda36f8e7421.jpg","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/c99f98e121aa443bb84ecda36f8e7421.jpg","subtitle":"Creating a New Life","address":"29251 Uncle Tom's Road, Dresden, Ontario, N0P 1M0","custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}}]}