Maple Leaf
Block #14: Maple Leaf
Sponsored by: Tuckahoe State Park
Located at Tuckahoe State Park
13070 Crouse Mill Rd, Queen Anne, MD 21657
Painted by Lockerman Middle School Art Students
The Unveiling
To Be Announced
The Story
To many freedom seekers, Canada represented a new land where African Americans could live without worry. Untold numbers made their way across the waters of the great lakes to seek what was described as the Promised Land. Harriet Tubman herself guided many of her passengers all the way into Canada, including a number of family members. Although slavery was outlawed in Canada, racial tensions were high. As a result many small towns along the border were created as “black only” communities.
Towns like St. Catharines became important places of abolitionist activity. In 1855, the British Methodist Episcopal Church and Salem Chapel were established at the corner of Geneva and North Streets, on land granted to the congregation in the early 1840s. The area became known to escaped African American slaves as a place of “refuge and rest,” and a destination, the final stop on the Underground Railroad. By the mid-1850s the population was about 6000, 800 of whom were “of African descent.” To this day, St. Catharines remains an important site in Black Canadian history.
