Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway
Poplar Neck, MD

Poplar Neck is a typical mid-19th-century farmstead that was home to the Thompson family and their slaves, including Ben Ross, Harriet Tubman’s father. Tubman's parents moved here in 1847. Evidence points to this being the location where Tubman may have liberated herself in 1849. On Christmas Day in 1854, Harriet returned to the plantation to help her brothers escape. Later, when Tubman's parents were exposed for being a part of the Underground Railroad in 1857, she helped them make a dramatic escape to Canada.

Today, you can see the privately owned farmstead from the access road or from the seat of a kayak on the Choptank River.