In celebration of a significant event on the Blairsville Underground Railroad, the group preserving the Underground Railroad’s history is preparing to hold a historic homes tour and open house.
The tour is scheduled for April 7th, and will feature seven historic homes located in Blairsville, and within most of the homes, there will be a historic character to talk of the home’s significance. The next day, April 8th, the Blairsville Underground Railroad History Center will hold an open house at their headquarters on South East Lane. The events will be part of the 160th anniversary of the 1858 rescue of Richard Newman, a slave that had come to Blairsville and had lived there for about six years when slave catcher Robert Stump of Virginia and a Uniontown Tailor named Peter Heck tried to capture Newman. It was then that a large group of townspeople came to Newman’s aid, and drove Heck and Stump to the Pennsylvania Canal.
Tickets are available for the house tour, and will cost $20 a person. For more information on how to purchase tickets, you can log on to www.undergroundrailroadblairsvillepa.com. Sponsorship opportunities are also being made available for the house tour.
