The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad. . , The house of Samuel B. Chase and Elizabeth Buffum Chase, once located across the street, played an important role in the antislavery movement of the 1840s and 1850s. As a secret refuge for fleeing slaves, this home was a stop on the "underground railroad" network which helped them escape from Southern slavery. The Chaces, active abolitionists, lived in this house from about 1847 to 1857. The house has been demolished and the property donated to the Town of Cumberland for public use., Freedom Fighter , Samuel B. Chace and his wife Elizabeth Buffum Chace came to Valley Falls from Fall River in 1839, after Samuel's father purchased the Valley falls textile mill on the Blackstone River. Fiercely independent Quakers, the Chaces chose to use their social and economic prominence to take leading roles in the antislavery movement. They risked ostracism in communities like Valley Falls, where economic ties to the South created powerful sympathies for slavery. The Chaces not only used their home as an underground railroad stop, they also hosted prominent reformers visiting the Blackstone Valley to lecture on the antislavery or abolitionist movement and other moral issues., Remnants of the mill complex run by Samuel Chace, currently the site of the Valley Falls Heritage Park, are located two blocks south (to the left) of here., Runaway slaves relied on a flexible system called the "underground railroad" to enable them to make the long trip from the southern slavery states to freedom in Canada. "Stations" along the railroad were usually private homes or places of worship that served as temporary hiding and resting places for the fugitives. The Chaces' home was a station for slaves traveling by ship from the South to New England. New Bedford was often a first stop, followed by a stay at the Fall River home of Elizabeth Buffum Chace's sister. From Fall River, fugitives could travel to Valley Falls, where the Chaces helped them begin a journey to Vermont by securing a seat on the Providence-Worcester Railroad. Vermont abolitionists would then direct slaves to their final destination in Canada.