Tubman was born into slavery but famously escaped in 1849 before returning thirteen times to rescue dozens of slaves along the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe houses used as an escape route to the northern states and Canada, which were free of slavery. The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument on Maryland’s Eastern Shore boasts breathtaking landscapes significant to Tubman’s life and journey. These include Stewart’s Canal which was dug by the hands of free and enslaved people, and the home of Jacob Jackson, a free black man who used coded letters to help Tubman communicate with her family.

Today, the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway allows travellers to journey in her footsteps, ideal for those wanting to discover the US’s slavery history following its recent prominence and the launch of Spielberg’s BAFTA award-winning LINCOLN. Key sites on the Byway include the Dorchester Courthouse, where Tubman made a daring escape to Baltimore, Long Warf, previously a slave trading centre, and the Harriet Tubman Museum. Other important sites include Brodess Farm, where Tubman spent her younger years, Potters Landing, a crossing point for slaves on the Underground Railroad and Bucktown Village Store, where Tubman first refused to help an angry overseer subdue another slave and received a crippling blow to the head with a two pound weight. Visit Caroline County Courthouse Square in Denton which was home to an old slave market and a jail which housed abolitionists to slavery, and discover Tuckahoe Neck Meeting House.

A new Tubman art exhibit will run until August at the Museum of Rural Life in Denton, created by artist Mark Priest who spent more than a decade re-tracing Tubman’s routes on the Underground Railroad to create artworks depicting her achievements and struggles. Admission to exhibition is free. On 5 October travellers could enjoy theatrical performances of Tubman’s life in Cambridge at the Waterway to Freedom, a lively festival on the Nanticoke River which also offers travellers the chance to experience jamboree music, living history performances and the chance to go paddling and cycling.

FOLLOW THE HARRIET TUBMAN UNDERGROUND RAILROAD BYWAY

5 nights from £1295 per person with Bon Voyage, including hire car with insurance for the duration, accommodation, return flights from London to Baltimore, Maryland including airport taxes and fuel charges.

Discover Tubman’s journey along the Underground Railroad. Highlights include the state’s capital, Baltimore, the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, historic Cambridge, Denton, the Adkins Arboretum and the James Webb Cabin, the only surviving log dwelling on the Eastern Shore known to have been built by a free black man, James Webb.

For all consumer enquires call 0800 316 0194 or visit www.bon-voyage.co.uk.

To find out more about the Byway and special events commemorating the 100th anniversary visit www.harriettubmanbyway.org

To find out more about Maryland and the Capital Region USA, visit www.CapitalRegionUSA.co.uk

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