Caroline Courthouse

In the nineteenth century, the Caroline County Courthouse Square stood at the center of rural county life, drawing elected officials, lawyers, merchants, and ordinary citizens, but it also served darker purposes within the antebellum slave trade. In the shadow of the courthouse, local slave auctions revealed the inhumanity and lucrative economics of slavery, while the county jail confined abolitionists such as Hugh Haziett, who was accused of helping runaways seeking freedom. An account of an intended escape recalls growing anxiety as food was prepared, clothing packed, and passes forged by Douglass, before the group, sent to the fields in the morning, was called back at midday to learn they had been betrayed.

Denton, Maryland · United States