Brooklyn Heights in Kings County, New York — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims
Underground Railroad Heritage Trail
Photographed by Todd Florio, July 12, 2010
1. Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims Marker
The congregation of Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims hired Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) as their first minister, approving of his abolitionist sentiments. Beecher protested the Fugitive Slave Laws of 1850, exhorting his congregation to place the requirements of sacred law above those of human law and to join the Underground Railroad. He promised to shelter fugitive slaves and treat them "as my own flesh and blood." Plymouth Church was on the route used by Reverend Charles Ray (1807-1886), an African American conductor for the Underground Railroad.
Beecher held mock slave auctions at the church, raising money to buy slaves' freedom. The first, on June 1, 1856, raised more than the $1200 necessary to pay off a slave trader for Sarah. Sarah used the remainder to buy a small farm where she supported herself for the rest of her life raising chickens and vegetables.
"I will both shelter them [fugitive slaves], conceal them,or speed their flight, and while under my shelter, or under my convoy,they shall be to me as my own flesh and blood...."
Henry Ward Beecher
Erected by New York State Office of Parks, Recreation
this page online
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Abolition & Underground RR • African Americans • Religion & Religious Structures. A significant historical month for this entry is June 1848.
Location. 40° 41.949′ N, 73° 59.621′ W. Marker is in Brooklyn, New York, in Kings County. It is in Brooklyn Heights. It is on Orange Street east of Hicks Street, on the right when traveling west. Though the church's address is on Hicks St. The marker is on the north side of Orange Street in the middle of the block. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 75 Hicks Street, Brooklyn NY 11201, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in New York City. It is also in the American Northeast. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, the Western Hemisphere, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once one of the original Thirteen Colonies.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: A different marker also named Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims (within shouting distance of this marker);
Photographed by Todd Florio, July 12, 2010
2. Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims Marker with the Newer Church Building in the Background
Also see . . . Henry Ward Beecher - Wikipedia. (Submitted on August 5, 2010, by Bill Pfingsten of Bel Air, Maryland.)
Library of Congress
3. Henry Ward Beecher
Chromolithograph from a photograph by Rockwood & Co. of New York © 1870 by L. Prang & Co.
New York Public Library
4. Mr. Beecher Selling A Beautiful Slave Girl In His Pulpit.
Internet Archive
5. Mr. Beecher's Church,
Brooklyn, N.Y.,
Called Plymouth Congregational Church
Brooklyn, N.Y.,
Called Plymouth Congregational Church
From Life and work of Henry Ward Beecher by Thomas Wallace Knox, 1887,
Credits. This page was last revised on April 8, 2026. It was originally submitted on July 30, 2010, by Dorothea Krumme of Brooklyn, New York. This page has been viewed 1,604 times since then and 31 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on July 30, 2010, by Dorothea Krumme of Brooklyn, New York. 3. submitted on August 10, 2018, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland. 4, 5. submitted on December 1, 2020, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.
