A Railroad in Transit New Research Challenges Location of Some 'Stations' on the Freedom Trail

Nearly a century and a half after the dissolution of the Underground Railroad, historians are struggling to better understand the clandestine system in which Southern slaves escaped to freedom in the North. "It can be very difficult," said Peter P. Hinks, a historian at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., who recently completed a study of the Underground Railroad in Connecticut. "You have to rely on hearsay, lore, scraps of information."… At the same time, Hinks said he is convinced that what is known about the system relies too heavily upon the roles of white abolitionist and their homes in helping the slaves to escape, though he acknowledges that role was significant.