Waterways to Freedom
Chesapeake, Va., is located just across the border from North Carolina. The town is steeped in the Confederate history so predominant in the South, but the area’s waterways made it a pivotal route on the Underground Railroad, providing safe travel and haven to escaped slaves whose stories also infuse Chesapeake’s history with a rally cry to freedom’s resolve.
The Dismal Swamp’s dense, tangled thorns, muddy terrain, and enormous size enabled hundreds, maybe thousands, of escaped slaves to live here undetected. The Dismal Swamp Canal alternatively offered refugees passage to freer lands. Free African Americans settled several towns in the area, including Cuffeytown,
