Enslavement to
freedom
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Found Fugitive Slave Headstones on Blue Mountain
From John Lenahan, March 27, 2006
I found the graves! The coordinates provided by Calobe were off by quite a bit. I found the stones the old fashioned way, by exploring every side trail and path off of the old Appalachian Trail. I see the coordinates as more like N40 degrees 22.616' and W76 degrees 46.910'. I got these from plotting the position on a map, not from a GPS.
The location is not overgrown and the stones are in fairly good condition. There is a ring of small stones around the graves and a foot stone on the Unknown's grave. The Unknown's head stone had cracked, probably from weather, and has since been repaired. I've been writing to the West Hanover Historical Society about these graves. They would not give me directions but they invited me to accompany them the next time they visit the graves. It was Volunteers from the Society who repaired the cracked stone.
Standing by these graves was an emotional experience. A line from the song "Oh Freedom" came to mind "...before I'd be a slave, I'd be burried in my grave..."
I plan to do more research on the old
Appalachian Trail in this area and will let you know if I hear anything
else about these graves. Let me know if you want detailed directions so
you can take a picture.
John Lenahan