The "tunnel to the river" is a common claim for reported Underground

Railroad stops. Many 18th and 19th houses located on or near rivers had

tunnels leading to the water for the purposes of loading and off-loading

supplies from barges on the river. Since many people are unaware that this

was not uncommon, they assume that it is related to the Underground Railroad

(probably because they assume some part of the Underground Railroad must be

underground!).

Evidence of Underground Railroad activities would be very difficult to

distinguish archaeologically as most stops were very brief, only being long

enough to permit a short rest before moving on. It is much more likely that

documentary evidence such as court records or newspaper articles would

provide that information. One may also gather the oral history concerning

the site and check it against the archaeology of documentary history, just

as you have done. If the oral history states that there was a tunnel (or

basement, or hidden room) and the archaeological evidence supports this,

then the oral tradition is given some support. The fact that the oral

history at the site that you are discussing was not supported by the

archeological evidence indicates to me that you were able to "debunk" that

site.

The US Park Service has a system for demonstrating that a property is

related to the Underground Railroad for listing in the "National Underground

Railroad Network to Freedom." You can see their website at

http://209.10.16.21/TEMPLATE/FrontEnd/program.cfm

<http://209.10.16.21/TEMPLATE/FrontEnd/program.cfm>

Michael Striker

ASC Group, Inc.

1624 Burlington Pike, Suite D

Florence, Kentucky 41042

(859) 746-1967

(859) 393-2177 (mobile)

[log in to unmask]

-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Kris
Oswald
Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2003 2:47 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: artifact ID


this leads me to a question....how can somebody claim a house was a stop for
the underground railroad based on oral tradition alone?
. .the reason i ask is that i did a emergency recovery effort for a house
that was going to be demolished ..based on the stories by the local
historical society this house had many runaway slaves stop on the way to
canada.......upon excavation..not one artifact or the structure itself
(hidden rooms/staircases)could be associated to that type of event ..claims
of a tunnel leading to the basement from the river were disproven..water
table was and is too high..although many artifacts from the time period were
recovered and some associated directly to the former residents...the
theroies of the stop..started melting away......without the physical
evidence i find it difficult to concur with the historical society..i dont
want to busrt anybodys bubble...but i guess im looking for that smoking gun
to prove them right..the second question is...am i being too critical of the
stop therory and the lack of evidence?..thanks for any reply

  Kris Oswald



Hi.  I'm late getting to this interesting discussion (in the field) so I
apologize. Too bad we didn't find any harness chains in the basement
fireplace-heated quarters room at the Chester Ashley mansion in Little Rock,
AR, in 1984.  Everyone had referred to the slave quarters but it was unclear
that the quarters were actually in the basement until we reread the accounts
in hindsight.
      Re "chained up slaves", there's a Colonial Revival house in eastern
Arkansas that some claim has slave chains in the basement, aside from the
fact that the house has no basement and was built about 1910.  The owner
says they are continually harassed by travelers driving down the "old
military road" who want to stop in and see the chains.
      And one project we are doing that at least is antebellum is at
Lakeport in southeastern Arkansas.  There, the collapsed smokehouse is
locally referred to as the "slave jail", though Vlach's 1993 Back of the Big
House makes it clear that sometimes indeed smokehouses did double duty as
confinement locations.  More vivid to think of it as a jail than a
smokehouse, but it's probably more important to think of every durn ordinary
antebellum plantation smokehouse as a potential jail and therefore an
"ordinary" and ubiquitous reminder of slavery.

At 06:12 PM 6/18/2003 -0500, you wrote:


To all,

The consensus on the chain artifact ID question is that it is part of a tug
or
heel chain which has probably been shortened. The tug or heel chain attached
to a trace of leather straps by way of the plate on the end, which attached
to
the horse or mule and via hooks on the opposite end to a singletree - all
for
pulling a wagon, cart or other such load.

The story behind this artifact is that it has been hanging on a hook in the
basement of an antebellum mansion in Carthage, Tennessee for quite some
time.
Legend has it that the object was used to chain recalcitrant slaves in the
basement. The architecture tells another story. The 6 room basement has 3
exterior entrances and fireplaces in all but one of the rooms suggesting
that
people lived in the basement. In fact, according to oral tradition one of
the
rooms was used as a winter kitchen (the fireplace is rather large). I had
the
pleasure to meet a woman in Nashville who has a picture of her great-great
grandmother who lived in that basement as a slave according to her family
tradition. It appears that the reality of slaves living and working in this
house transformed to them being shackled in the basement, possibly by the
mere
existence of this chain.

The twentieth century edition of the story is also interesting. The legend
of
slaves being chained in the basement of the house is well in the town of
Carthage, TN. Carthage is home to Al Gore. On his presidential campaign Gore
used the house as a stop on a media tour of his hometown. According to the
current owners Gore took all the news anchors to the basement to see the
"shackles". I relate this, not as an indictment of Al Gore for weak
historical
knowledge, but to illustrate how an artifact can potentially change history.
And it’s a darned interesting story. My thanks to all who contributed
answers.
I knew ya'll would come through.


Michael

Michael Strutt
Director of Cultural Resources
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department


Leslie C. "Skip" Stewart-Abernathy
Arkansas Archeological Survey
phone 479 968-0381, fax 479 964-0872