The Kennett Underground Railroad Center (KURC), a volunteer-run nonprofit based in Kennett Square, has extensively documented Chester County’s network of Quaker abolitionists, free Black residents, and allied community members who sheltered and guided hundreds of freedom seekers northward — often at great personal risk, as aiding an escaped enslaved person was a federal crime. Their guided bus tour visits the documented sites where that history unfolded.
Alternatively, a digital self-guided tour is available with a $20 donation to KURC. This tour follows the same route as the bus tours but does not include all the stories an experienced guide would share.
Kennett Heritage Center
Tours depart from the Kennett Heritage Center, 120 North Union Street, Kennett Square. at 1:00 pm. Tickets are $30 per person and $15 for children under 14. Tours typically run once a month from April through October, on the second or third Saturday or Sunday at 10:00 am or 1:00 pm. Private tours for groups of 10 to 25 people are also available year-round by arrangement. For schedules and booking, visit kennettundergroundrr.org, email [email protected], or call 484-544-5070.
Quaker Meetinghouses
The Quaker community of southern Chester County was at the heart of the region’s abolitionist movement. The tour visits meetinghouses that served as organizing centers for anti-slavery activity and as gathering places for the network of individuals who made the Underground Railroad function in this area.
Documented Underground Railroad Sites
The tour visits a series of historic farmhouses and properties whose owners were active conductors on the Underground Railroad — feeding, clothing, and sheltering freedom seekers as they passed through Chester County. Many of these sites are still standing, largely unchanged from the days when they served as secret way stations on the journey north.
Contributions of Local African Americans
The tour also presents the contributions of local African Americans and their faith communities in the quest for freedom from slavery.