Antebellum Halifax was an important town in the plantation country of the Roanoke River valley. Its location on the river, where a major north-south roadway crossed, made it a logical place for travel and commerce. In 1830, the 240 slaves and 53 free blacks who resided there used the town’s commercial and communal activity to attain personal freedoms and financial gain. African-Americans worked in transportation-related positions such as ship’s crewmen, ferrymen, and dock and warehouse workers, while free people of color made a living as coopers, masons, tailors, barbers, carpenters, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, domestic workers, fishermen, and laborers. Halifax’s location and character also made it an important station for freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad, whether they came to reunite with family members who had been sold or were passing through to a free state. The town’s busy activity and the support of a large and sympathetic black community made it easier for travelers to go unnoticed, and some used skills ranging from literacy to carpentry to pass as free. For those headed north, Halifax offered either a land or maritime route, but those who were caught faced confinement in the local jail until they were retrieved by a plantation owner or sold.