Seaford Hundred in Sussex County, Delaware — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)

Gateway to Freedom: The Tilly Escape

Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), August 24, 2019

1. Gateway to Freedom: The Tilly Escape Marker

Inscription. In October 1856, famed Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman organized what is considered by Tubman scholars to be "one of her most complicated and clever escape attempts." Working at the request of a fiancé who had escaped to Canada, Tubman located a slave named Tilly in Baltimore. Believing a steamship voyage to Philadelphia too dangerous and expensive, Tubman decided she and Tilly would travel by steamboat to Seaford, first sailing south down the Chesapeake Bay then up the Nanticoke River. Upon landing, most likely at the present-day Riverwalk, Tubman and Tilly spent the night at a hotel located atop the hill — now home to Gateway Park. Nearly arrested by slave traders the following morning, accounts note that the hotel landlord intervened on behalf of the two women. Thanks to Tubman's letter of passage which identified her as a free African American woman from Philadelphia, she and Tilly obtained passes to safely travel north, first by train to Camden, then by carriage to Thomas Garrett in Wilmington. A well-known abolitionist and leader in the Underground Railroad movement. Garrett documented the story in a

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letter dated October 27, 1856. Addressed to Eliza Wigham in Scotland and written three days after the Tilly escape, the letter vividly recounts what Garrett deemed a "remarkable" trip and one which "manifested great shrewdness." Tilly's story is the only documented escape led by Harriet Tubman at the headwaters of the Nanticoke, which border her home county of Dorchester, Maryland. The Tilly escape site was included in the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom by the National Park Service in September 2013.

Erected 2014 by Delaware Public Archives. (Marker Number SC-233.)

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Abolition & Underground RR • African Americans • Waterways & Vessels • Women. In addition, it is included in the Delaware Public Archives series list. A significant historical month for this entry is September 2013.

Location. 38° 38.51′ N, 75° 36.56′ W. Marker is in Seaford, Delaware, in Sussex County. It is in Seaford Hundred. It is on Market Street just south of High Street, on the right when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Seaford DE

Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), August 24, 2019

2. Gateway to Freedom: The Tilly Escape Marker

19973, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in the American Mid-Atlantic,

on the Delmarva Peninsula,

and on the Eastern Seaboard. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region,

North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Netherland,

one of the original Thirteen Colonies,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Governor William H. H. Ross (about 700 feet away, measured in a direct line); St. Luke's Episcopal Church (about 700 feet away); Mount Olivet United Methodist Church (about 700 feet away); Hiram Lodge No. 21 A.F&A.M. (approx. 0.2 miles away); Forty & Eight Boxcar (approx. 0.2 miles away); Killed in Action Memorial (approx. 0.2 miles away); Nanticoke Post No. 6 (approx. 0.2 miles away); Veterans Memorial (approx. 0.2 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Seaford.

Credits. This page was last revised on June 29, 2026. It was originally submitted on August 25, 2019, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 717 times since then and 47 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on August 25, 2019, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.