Hidden passage linked to Underground Railroad found in New York museum
Small opening cut into floor at Merchant’s House Museum indicates site was probably used as ‘safe house’, experts sayA landmark house in Manhattan preserved as a museum to New York’s 19th-century history has revealed an even more intriguing secret: its previously unknown status as a refuge...
<p>Small opening cut into floor at Merchant’s House Museum indicates site was probably used as ‘safe house’, experts say</p><p>A landmark house in Manhattan preserved as a museum to New York’s 19th-century history has revealed an even more intriguing secret: its previously unknown status as a refuge for people who escaped slavery before and during the civil war.</p><p>The Merchant’s House Museum’s link to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/01/canada-underground-railroad">Underground Railroad</a>, a network of abolitionists who secured the safe passage of enslaved people to freedom, was discovered when archaeologists looked beneath the drawers of a built-in dresser in the wall of a hallway leading to bedrooms on the building’s second floor.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/11/new-york-museum-underground-railroad-hidden-passage">Continue reading...</a>
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