Finally I am able to share a series of maps I made for the newly opened Underground Railroad Cultural Heritage Center in Niagara Falls, NY. The maps are all quite large, given their real-world situation in interpretive materials in the museum itself.

From their website:

The Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center is a new and experiential museum that reveals authentic stories of Underground Railroad freedom seekers and abolitionists in Niagara Falls, New York. The Heritage Center connects stories from the past with contemporary stories of freedom to inspire visitors to recognize modern injustices that stem from slavery and to take action toward an equitable society. The exhibition uses strong historically accurate theatrical recreations and illustrative/dramatic interactive media to immerse the visitor along the journey of freedom seekers as they approach this one more river to cross to freedom in Canada. Exhibits carefully integrate the Center’s use of facilitated dialogue to help serve as a catalyst to engaging the public in complex social issues.
These maps were completed through the interpretation professionals at Studio Tectonic.

Legal Geographies 1776 (Half).jpg Legal Geographies 1827(Half).jpg Legal Geographies 1834 (Half).jpg Legal Geographies 1850 (Half).jpg Legal Geographies 1865 (Half).jpg

This first series of maps depicts the shifting legal geographies of the early United States, showing how changes in national and state laws affected enslaved and free people of color.

UGRR Map - 1 (Half).jpg UGRR Map - 2 (Half).jpg UGRR Map - 3 (Half).jpg UGRR Map - 4 (Half).jpg

The next series generalizes the routes taken by escaping enslaved persons from the southern states, following the Underground Railroad to Canada.

Crossing Points Map (Half).jpg

Once to the Great Lakes region border states, the methods of transportation used to complete the journey.

Transportation Map (Half).jpg

Condensing the geographic scale further, this map shows the movement of escapees into and through New York and it's surrounding mid-Atlantic states.

Escape Route Map (Half).jpg

And my personal favorite, the route of one escaped slave, who's diary tells the story of how the person who owned her vacationed in upstate New York, and her subsequent flight from the Cataract Hotel by foot and ferry to safety in Ontario.