Scarborough State Beaches

On the remote Eastern Shore of Maryland, where tidal marshes meet vast agricultural fields and the horizon stretches unbroken for miles, Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park preserves the landscape where one of America’s greatest freedom fighters was born, enslaved, and ultimately found the courage to escape—then returned 13 times to lead approximately 70 enslaved people to freedom through the Underground Railroad. The park’s world-class 17,000-square-foot visitor center, operated jointly with the National Park Service, offers immersive exhibits and serves as the gateway to the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway. Admission is free.

The Visitor Center

The visitor center features approximately 10,000 square feet of immersive exhibits exploring Tubman’s life—from her childhood and enslavement in Dorchester and Caroline counties, through her daring rescue missions on the Underground Railroad, to her service as a Union Army scout and spy during the Civil War, and her later years as a suffragist and humanitarian. Highlights include multimedia presentations, a theater showing films about her life, and interactive displays that place visitors in the landscape Tubman navigated.

Visitor Center Details

The Tubman Byway

The visitor center serves as the orientation hub for the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway—a self-guided driving tour encompassing numerous historical sites across Maryland’s Eastern Shore connected to Tubman’s life and the Underground Railroad. The byway links churches, waterways, farmsteads, and landscapes that Tubman used during her rescue missions, providing context that cannot be replicated in a museum alone.

The Landscape

The park’s setting is itself a powerful exhibit. The Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge adjacent to the park preserves the same tidal marshes, forests, and waterways that Tubman knew intimately. She navigated these wetlands at night using the North Star, birdsong, and her extraordinary knowledge of the terrain to evade capture. The flat, open landscape—which today supports bald eagles, great blue herons, and migrating waterfowl—was both prison and pathway for those seeking freedom.

Tubman’s Legacy

Harriet Tubman (c. 1822–1913) escaped slavery in 1849 and subsequently returned to Maryland’s Eastern Shore 13 times, leading approximately 70 people to freedom—never losing a single passenger. During the Civil War, she served as a scout, spy, and nurse for the Union Army, and in 1863 became the first woman to lead an armed military raid in U.S. history (the Combahee River Raid). After the war, she advocated for women’s suffrage and established a home for elderly African Americans in Auburn, New York.

Essential Visitor Information

Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park is located at 4068 Golden Hill Road, Church Creek, MD 21622, approximately 10 miles south of Cambridge on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The park is jointly managed by the Maryland Park Service and the National Park Service.

Frequently Asked Questions