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| Norwich Historical Society Director, Regan Minor, lead the walk |
Sunday September 22nd was the Walktober 2019 Event - Norwich's Freedom Trail. Today's tour focused on the Jail Hill section of the Freedom Trail, a 1 mile trek with steep hills and an informative talk about notable African-Americans who played a role in freedom from slavery.
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| Freedom Bell in the David Ruggles Freedom Courtyard, in front of Norwich City Hall |
David Ruggles (1810-1849) was an abolitionist born to free black parents in Norwich, CT. In addition to being an accomplished journalist, contributer to abolitionist newspapers, editor of The Mirror of Liberty (the first black owned periodical), and owner of a New York bookstore and reading room in 1834, Ruggles also claimed to have helped 600 people escape slavery in his role as "conductor" on the Underground Railroad.
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| Memorial plaque to David Ruggles (1810-1849) |
Presidential candidate, Abraham Lincoln, stopped in Norwich in 1860. He spoke at City Hall and visited the Wauregan House (c.1855), one of the finest inns of the day located between Boston and New York. On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation proclaiming, "that all persons held as slaves...are, and henceforward shall be free."
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| Norwich City Hall, Connecticut (c.1870-1873) |
Before leaving the courtyard, we learned that contrary to most New Englander's belief that slavery never existed in the North, Connecticut slavery was common following the Pequot War (1636-1637). Captured Native Americans were forced into slavery by the colonists, and later in the 1700's were exchanged for African slaves. Slavery was especially common in seaport towns such as Norwich and New London. Slaves could purchase their freedom, or owners could set them free. In 1774, importation of slaves was banned, but by then Connecticut already had the largest slave population in New England. Norwich's black population at that time was 234 out of 7,327 residents, approximately 3%.
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| Our first uphill hike was straight ahead onto Church St. |
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| The Guy and Sarah Drock House (c.1759) |
Sarah Powers purchased her husband's freedom from Captain Benejah Bushnell in 1759. Her payment was two years work as a servant and an unspecified amount of money. Guy Drock worked as a blacksmith in a shop he and Sarah purchased across the street from Bushnell's widow, Zerviah. They also purchased this home on Church St.
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| Le Famille De L Eglise Dieu (Former Second Congregational Church) (c. 1844) |
The Second Congregational Church, originally founded in 1760, provided a place for African Americans to learn to read and study religion. Members of the church lead the local anti-slavery movement. An angry mob arrived in July 1834 to disrupt their meeting at the church. These types of attacks were common in the 1830's throughout CT.
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| Lottie B. Scott House (c. 1891) |
Lottie Scott has lived in Norwich since 1957. She is a leading advocate for civil rights, has served on several city commissions and supports many local non-profits. She received the Willard M. McRae Community Diversity Award and a Writer's Block Ink Humanitarian ACE Award in 2017. In 2018 she published Deep South- Deep North: A Family's Journey, her memoir of racism and poverty.
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| Our next hill was a bit steeper - Court St., so named because the court house once stood here. Fortunately it is a short hill! |
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| The James Lindsey Smith House (c. 1843) |
James Lindsey Smith escaped slavery in Virginia via the underground railroad. He later settled in Norwich and established a business as shoemaker. He published his memoir of hardship and cruelty in slavery in 1881.
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| After an uphill walk on School St., we pause for another photo of the Harbor, also know as the Thames River Estuary, where the Shetucket and Yantic Rivers join to become the Thames River. |
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| Our last uphill climb takes us up Cedar St. |
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| This is the site of the former 1838 New London County Jail. It's location is the reason this section of town was referred to as Jail Hill. |
The location of a jail in this hilly section of town is what lends it the name "Jail Hill." Because there was a jail in this area, property values were low making it affordable for poor and working-class African-Americans of that era. By the 1840's The population began to change. As Ireland's potato famine drove many Irish to immigrate to America, many northern African-Americans were moving south to open schools, support suffrage, and assist newly freed slaves after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863.
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| The Charles E. Harris House (c.1836) |
Charles Harris was a subscription agent agent for the abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator. Harris introduced Prudence Crandall to Sarah Ann Major Harris, who convinced Crandall to allow her to attend her all white school. Prudence Crandall's school in Canterbury, CT has a rich history of its own. Click here for more info.
From here it was all downhill as we retraced our steps.
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| The Former Norwich Female Academy (c.1828) |
Ninety students attended the Norwich Female Academy founded in 1828. Unfortunately it closed shortly after the jail was built on nearby Cedar St. in 1833.
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| Norwich's African-American Heritage plaque, on Church St., provides a brief history of slavery and freedom in CT, as well as the connection to the Underground Railroad |
Today the Jail Hill section is in various states of repair but continues to take pride in its history. The neighborhood was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.
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