PIECE OF HISTORY

Coin Leads Researchers to Spot Where Harriet Tubman Lived

Archaeologists are convinced they found the site where Tubman’s father had his cabin.

Archaeologists believe they have found the site in Maryland where Harriet Tubman’s father had a cabin, where she once lived. Julie Schablitsky, who works for the state transportation department, used a metal detector to unearth an 1808 coin in a remote section of the eastern shore that led her to dig deeper. Her team then discovered more artifacts from the same time period that convinced them it was the very spot on the Thompson Farm where Ben Ross Sr. had lived while enslaved and after he was freed. The site will be added to the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway, a federally designated scenic drive with dozens of sites linked to the abolitionist’s life.

“The importance of discovering Ben Ross’ cabin here is the connection to Harriet Tubman. She would’ve spent time here as a child, but also she would’ve come back and been living here with her father in her teenage years, working alongside him,” Schablitsky said in a statement. “This was the opportunity she had to learn about how to navigate and survive in the wetlands and the woods. We believe this experience was able to benefit her when she began to move people to freedom.”