What is the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom?

What is the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom?. Orange Street Landing on Cape Fear. In 2005, this site was named “Orange Street Landing on Cape Fear” when it was officially accepted into the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. As part of the National Park Service, this programs marks historic sites, facilities and other programs that have association to the Underground Railroad. A broad range of nominated listings can be viewed at the National Park Service website: www.nps.gov/ugrr and www.cr.nps.gov/ugrr. , Before emancipation, a maritime Underground Railroad existed on the Cape Fear River. Twenty-two Wilmington slaves made their way to the foot of Orange Street and escaped to freedom by boat in 1862. This amazing story was lost until 2002 when the book Diary of a Contraband: The Civil War Passage of a Black Sailor was published. The diary of William Benjamin Gould is the only known Civil War diary of a black sailor who was formerly enslaved. “Orange Street Landing on Cape Fear” interprets this escape story. , About the Sailing Vessel , The vessel shown here is the type of vessel that may have been used by Wilmington slaves in their escape to freedom. On September 21, 1862, they left Orange Street Landing in cover of darkness. They spent the next night hiding out on the bank of the river. The following day they made it past the mouth of the Cape Fear River and the guns of Confederate Fort Caswell. Once they entered the Atlantic Ocean they were picked up by the USS Cambridge, a Union Blockader. The map shows their thirty mile escape. , [Captions] , . Top right: Looking south from the foot of Market Street. , . Bottom left: Mid-19th century woodcut indicating a runaway slave published in the Wilmington Journal. , . Bottom right: Mid-Atlantic coast circa 1862.