Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, November 8, 1993 TAG: 9311080065
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
\ The Quakers' role in the anti-slavery movement was a passionate one.
Many furnished hiding places in the underground railroad, a network of escape routes used by slaves during the mid-1800s. Levi Coffin, a Quaker who was dubbed the "president of the underground railroad," helped more than 3,000 slaves escape.
The underground railroad - actually neither underground nor a railroad - is perhaps as much a part of the history of Quakers, also known as the Society of Friends, as it is for any other ethnic or religious group.
Sunday, on John and Linda Thornton's farm in Botetourt County, some 50 Roanoke-area Quakers brought it back to life.
The 240-acre farm was transformed into an underground railroad, incorporating as much realism as possible, four-wheel drives and flashlights notwithstanding.
"This is part of history in which Quakers played a major role," said Tony Martin of Big Island. "This is a way to teach Quaker history - to let people have the experience of what it was like."
The lesson became one primarily for children - nearly 20 of them - who served as slaves.
Divided into three groups, the youngest were sent to a "cotton field" with farming tools in hand. From there, they made their escape.
The other two groups - shackled at the ankle with rusted chains - were first sold on an auction block. They escaped, after being sold to the highest bidder, from a nearby "plantation house."
Chased by a posse of bounty hunters, the slaves scaled fences, tore through woods, crossed a creek, ran through a hay field and scaled a fence before stopping at a barn to rest - and hide. They then made their way through another wooded area, before seeking refuge at a "Quaker safe house." There, they hid in an attic.
Along their route were people who offered help or turned them in. The children had to determine who was friend or foe by using passwords and code signals.
Lurking in the shadows was "slave owner" Bob Fetter of Roanoke, who would thwart the escape attempts by capturing some slaves and throwing them in "jail."
Freedom was guaranteed for those who reached a boat house, where Linda Thornton - a friendly but "nonplussed" aide - was waiting to carry them across a pond in a rowboat. Quietly, the slaves donned life jackets, stepped into the boat and floated across the water.
Once reaching the other side, near a wooded area, a "friend" was waiting to guide slaves to safety - a house where steaming soup, warm bread and fruit were waiting.
In the daylight, the simulation would have been thrilling. But in the cold darkness, with the only light provided by the moon, it had twinge of danger.
Flashlights were limited. Only one to a group was permitted, said Patsy Martin, of Big Island. Too many would take away some of the realism, she explained.
Some of the children confessed that the dark made the activity "much more fun."
But for young "slave" Chris Raintree, it was just plain "scary."
by CNB