Three Chesapeake Gateways on the Harriet Tubman Byway

Three Chesapeake Gateways in Maryland — Sailwinds Park East, the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park and State Park, and Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge — are stops on the Harriet Tubman Byway, and all are tied to the life and legacy of Harriet Tubman. Seeing the land, water, plants and wildlife of Tubman's world helps visitors grasp what she did: wading through swamps, crossing rough rivers and walking hard trails to bring herself and many others to freedom. Late fall, with crisp weather and bird migration in full swing, is a fine time to visit.

Sailwinds Park East, Cambridge

The official starting point of the Harriet Tubman Byway (stop 1), Sailwinds Park East sits on the shore of the Choptank River. The river takes its name from the Choptank people, who lived on the south side of its basin in 1668; the name is thought to come from a Nanticoke word, tshapetank, a stream that separates. The park's prize-winning building, crowned by a huge sail rising more than 100 feet, is an Eastern Shore landmark whose design and construction Chesapeake Gateways helped support.

Visitor center staff share information about Chesapeake Gateways, Harriet Tubman and the river, with maps, brochures and two floors of exhibits on Dorchester County. Outside are a playground, a seasonal native-plant garden, a mile-long boardwalk open to people and pets, a beach, a fishing pier and a flying-goose sculpture.

Sailwinds Park East. Photo by Buckelew, National Park Service.

The Choptank, nearly 75 miles long, is the longest river on Maryland's Eastern Shore and rises in Delaware. It still flows through a varied natural landscape not so different from the one Tubman knew in the early 1800s — beautiful to look at, but hard to navigate while being hunted by enslavers and bounty hunters.

Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park and State Park, Church Creek

About 15 miles away, the 17-acre park anchors the 125-mile byway (its visitor center is stop 13). Its 10,000-square-foot visitor center uses interactive exhibits, artworks, a theater and personal stories to trace Tubman's life: the secret networks of the Underground Railroad, her own daring rescue missions, her work during the Civil War, and her later civil rights and suffrage activism.

The award-winning building is designed around her journey. Visitors move through the site and exhibits from south to north, passing interpretive stations such as "Living with the Land" and "Concealment" that show how the landscape shaped her escapes. Two buildings — one for exhibits, one for administration — share an entry plaza and terrace and frame a view to the north, the direction of freedom; the space between them widens as visitors walk north.

Exhibits at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park and State Park. Photo by Buckelew, National Park Service.

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge

Less than 2 miles from the visitor center, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge (byway stop 14) was established in 1933 for migratory birds. Its 28,000 acres of forest, marsh and waterways are much as they were when Tubman lived in Dorchester County. Its tidal marsh, hardwood and loblolly pine forest, managed freshwater wetlands and cropland make it a key resting and feeding stop for migrating and wintering waterfowl and one of the main wintering areas for Canada geese on the Atlantic Flyway. It has the largest natural population of the once-endangered Delmarva Peninsula fox squirrel and the largest breeding population of bald eagles on the East Coast north of Florida.

Pintails and mallards at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by Whetzel, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

In October and November, blackbirds — the last songbirds to migrate — pass through, and tundra swans from northwestern Canada usually arrive in November, several hundred staying the winter. White-tailed and sika deer breed from October to December, bald eagle numbers grow as northern birds arrive, and golden eagles are occasionally seen. More than 20,000 acres are open for recreation year-round, with 5 miles of hiking, 17 miles of paddling routes and a 3.6-mile wildlife drive popular with birders and photographers.

At all three places, visitors can picture Tubman in the fields, forests, rivers, creeks and swamps of the Eastern Shore and feel the physical, social and spiritual courage of her and other freedom fighters. The byway's driving tour guide has more.

Sources

• National Park Service, Chesapeake Gateways: "A Late Fall Tour through Three Chesapeake Gateways." The source's quotation describing the visitor center's design is paraphrased.
• Words on this page from people and organisations outside the federal government are paraphrased; rewritten in hubnx's own words.