Fairmount Park

Belmont Mansion
2000 Belmont Mansion Drive
(215) 878-8844

Judge Richard Peters inherited this 18th-century home from his father during the turmoil of the Revolutionary War. One of the first non-Quaker members of the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery, Judge Peters entertained a number of leaders and dignitaries here, including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams. A restoration project to convert the house into a museum is slated for completion in March 2007. Visitors will be able to tour the property and learn how the mansion became a vital part of the Underground Railroad by receiving fugitive slaves and hiding them in the third-floor attic. Judge Peters is credited with purchasing and then freeing a slave named Cornelia Wells and her daughter. A washerwoman, Wells later became an entrepreneur by selling her horseshoe-shaped ginger cakes and spruce beer. Today, descendants of Peters are active with the American Women's Heritage Society, the association that maintains the estate.

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Rittenhouse Square

Civil War and Underground Railroad Museum of Philadelphia
1805 Pine Street
(215) 735-8196

Amid swirling theories of a conspiracy surrounding Lincoln's assassination, three Union Army officers met to form a group dedicated to thwarting future threats to the national government. Recruiting post-war officers and veterans from the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, the organization compiled their relics, papers, and awards to form the museum in 1888. Understanding that the issue of slavery played a fundamental role in the Civil War, the men also saved receipts noting the purchase of slaves, copies of abolitionists' memoirs, and autobiographies and issues of William Lloyd Garrison's anti-slavery newspaper, The Liberator. The museum's holdings also feature a first edition of the History of the Underground Railroad by William Still, known as the father of the Underground Railroad. The museum is actively seeking donations of artifacts from the era of slavery and the abolitionist movement.

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Germantown

Johnson House Historic Site
6306 Germantown Avenue
(215) 438-1768

A station stop along the Underground Railroad, the Johnson House was the residence of a Quaker family with ardent anti-slavery beliefs who hid runaways throughout the 1800s. Visitors can examine the nooks and crevices where escapees were tucked away, including an attic trap door leading to the roof, which archeologists discovered within the last few years. Special events and exhibitions provide additional insight into the staunchly abolitionist views of the Germantown section of Philadelphia.

Nearby Historic Marker:
A few blocks south, at 5109 Germantown Avenue, is a marker commemorating Francis Daniel Pastorius, a prolific writer fluent in seven languages and the leader of America's first formal anti-slavery protest.

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