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Books: by Title: Sketches in the History of the Underground Railroad

... then showing him the north star and teaching him the way to find it, he told him to go towards it until he came to water that he could not see across, then turn to the right and keep within sight of it until he could see land and houses on the other side; "that," said he, "is Canada."

He went sometimes in the roads, then in woods or fields, and at length arrived at the ridge of highland south of Erie, Pa., when all at once he looked down upon the "wide water," as it had been described. It was to Tom as if all material things had disappeared, and heaven burst suddenly into view...

Fugitive slave Tom Hawkins' first sight of Lake Erie is beautifully imagined by Underground Railroad agent Eber Pettit. For nearly a quarter century, Pettit operated a station in Cattaraugus County. From this outpost at Versailles on the banks of Cattaraugus Creek, Pettit funneled fugitives to Black Rock and the Niagara River for passage to Canada. He knew well the routes through New York, Western Pennsylvania and Ohio.

This 155-page book is a collection of his reminiscences, commissioned by the editors of the Fredonia Censor and published in that newspaper in 1868. Written for a newspaper audience in an era when newspapers were largely recreation, the vignettes are as entertaining as they are enlightening. Pettit's breezy, casual style is both readable and imaginative. The book also includes period photographs, illustrations and maps.

ISBN: 0-9658955-3-X
$12.95

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