Quaker Farms of the Underground Railroad
In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
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Quaker Farmers on this Map:

Southern Lancaster County in the 1800s
A Hotspot of Anti-Slavery Resistance,
Non-Violent Civil Disobedience,
and Liberal Quaker Activism:

Prosperous Quaker farmers here were masters of resistance to tyranny. These peaceful farmers were fearless station masters of the Underground Railroad. They were plain-dressed, plain-spoken, and relentless in their nonviolent fight for justice.
Local Quaker families assisted countless southern slaves escape to freedom. These farmers disobeyed unjust federal laws. They defied the Gap Gang. They ignored the risk of being imprisoned and fined. Some Quaker barns were burned down by arsonists during these troubles. Abolitionist farmers risked their wealth for the cause of justice and liberation. The Quaker Resistance here was epic.

Lancaster County Quaker Farmers:
Prosperous, Plain-dressed Farmers by Day,
Nonviolent Resistance Fighters by Night:

Image sources: Left: Ancestry.com and FindaGrave.com. Right: *History of the Underground Railroad…*, Smedley, Internet Archive.

Above left: Thomas Whitson and Martha (Hobson) Whitson. Farm at 5341 White Oak Road, near Nickel Mines.
Above right: Daniel Gibbons and Hannah (Wierman) Gibbons. Farm at 458 Beechdale Road, Bird-in-Hand.

"…I am not afraid of thy shooting me,
so thee may as well put thy pistol down.”
(Quaker farmer Thomas Whitson to a kidnapper)

Above: *The Underground Railroad,* by Marianna Gibbons Brubaker, Lancaster County Historical Society, 1911

Lindley Coates of Christiana
Arsonists Burned Down his Barn
Because he was an Anti-Slavery Activist:

Above: Quaker farmer Lindley Coates was a delegate at the 1837 Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. There he and Attorney Thaddeus Stevens fought for African American rights. Stevens subsequently was elected to the U. S. Congress.
Lindley Coates was elected President of the American Anti-Slavery Society in New York. Arsonists burned down his barn because of his anti-slavery activism. But the farmhouse survives today, at 444 Newport Avenue near Christiana.

Underground Railroad Routes in Lancaster County:

Above: Image source: “The Underground Railroad Explorer’s Map and Guide,” Lancaster County Heritage, SusquehannaRiverlands

Quaker Meetinghouse of Lancaster County
Epicenters of Resistance:

Above: Two of the Quaker meetinghouses in southern Lancaster County: Left: Drumore Friends Meetinghouse Right: Eastland Friends Meetinghouse. These modest meetinghouses are icons of resistance to tyranny.

In addition to the names on this map, there were other Lancaster County Quakers who were anti-slavery activists. There was also an important network of free Blacks here who were conductors on the north-bound freedom train. Other anti-slavery activists included Mennonites, Presbyterians, and more.
But a major majority of the white abolitionists here in this county were Quakers farmers. And their stories are among the best documented histories of our local Underground Railroad.
Today many historic Quaker farms of southern Lancaster County are Amish farms. Quaker numbers have declined. But the memory of those peaceable Quaker farmers continues. The hills of southern Lancaster County echo with progressive Quaker voices from the past.

Dedication:

A Few Sources:

Still, William (1872). The Underground Railroad. Porter & Coates.
Smedley, Robert C. (1883). History of the Underground Railroad. Lancaster, PA.
Brubaker, Marianna Gibbons (1911). The Underground Railroad. Lancaster County Historical Society.
Hensel, W. U. (1911). The Christiana Riot and the Treason Trials… Lancaster, PA.
Spotts, Charles D. (1966). The Pilgrim’s Pathway. Franklin and Marshall College.
Harris, Randolph J. and Plumley, Nancy H. Underground Railroad Stationmasters… Christiana Underground Railroad Center.
Miller, D. Douglas (2016). Drumore Quakers’ Precious Habitation. Drumore Cemetery Association.
Ness, Daniel K. (2022). By Moonlight to Freedom, Underground. Lancaster County, PA.
Schreiber, Ernest. 2023. A Brief History of Quakers in Lancaster County. Lancaster, PA.

And my thanks to: Daniel Ness, Randy Harris, and Donna McCool
For their leadership and for sharing information.

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