Freedom Trail Hike Explores The History Of Underground Railroad In Illinois

Jan Ton, pictured, a Dutch immigrant settled on the far south side of Chicago near the Little Calumet River where he worked as a farmer and an abolitionist helping escaped slaves on their journey to freedom.
Jan Ton, pictured, a Dutch immigrant settled on the far south side of Chicago near the Little Calumet River where he worked as a farmer and an abolitionist helping escaped slaves on their journey to freedom.

Freedom Trail Hike Explores The History Of Underground Railroad In Illinois

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

The Little Calumet Underground Railroad Project recently hosted their first Walking the Freedom Trail hike in Beaubien Woods near the Little Calumet River. The hike was led by Tom Shepard and Larry McClellan who walked participants through the woods and told the story of the thousands of escaped slaves that came through the forest on their journey to freedom.

“Out here in the far south side, thousands of escaped slaves came through this area during the mid-1800’s before the civil war. They were freedom seekers that were coming up to Chicago and going either into Chicago or moving onto where they would be free up in Canada or points eastward where the bounty hunters didn’t go like Pennsylvania and New York,” said Shepard.

During this time, the area was home to several Dutch farmers who had immigrated to the United States from Holland. Aside from being farmers, they were also abolitionists. One in particular, Jan Ton, opened his farm to freedom seekers as a safe house.

“What we are hoping to do is recreate a little bit of the trail that the freedom seekers might have taken back in the 1850’s or so and we are out near the site of the Jan Ton Farm who was the principal safe house conductor of what is known as the underground railroad at the time,” said Shepard.

The Little Calumet Underground Railroad Project is a fairly new organization that just came into existence at the end of last year. Coincidentally, at the same time this organization was forming, the Cook County Forest Preserve was looking for a new way to breathe life into Beaubien Woods which is one of the most underutilized forest preserves in Cook County, according to Shepard.

“The Cook County Forest Preserve has embarked on improving and highlighting the Beaubien Woods Forest Preserve because it is one of the least used forest preserves in the county system. Our timing was just perfect because we began our effort about the same time they were looking for something to spark a flame at Beaubien Woods Forest Preserve,” said Shepard.

A possible pavilion and a memorial to the Underground Railroad in Beaubien Woods is being discussed by the Cook County Forest Preserve which is in favor of setting up trail markers for people to take self-guided tours of the path the escaped slaves might have taken on their journey to freedom.

“It was a perilous journey and when you use your imagination to think about what they went through to be able to gain their freedom, it’s just remarkable and that’s what we want to depict,” said Shepard.

“We won’t ask them to take off their shoes but they will get an idea of what it had to be like for these people that braved all the dangers and the treachery on foot coming up hundreds of miles from down south, up through Illinois, and then finding their way to our little area here on the far south side.”

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