The fifty-eight miles of Alum Creek run north to south from Morrow County through Delaware County into Franklin County, where it empties into Big Walnut Creek and drains into the Scioto River. Alum Creek and other waterways served as "liquid lines to freedom" for runaway slaves escaping bondage and brutality, because wading through the water kept bounty hunters’ bloodhounds from following human scent and helped freedom seekers continue their journeys under cover of darkness. Sunbury Road, or the "Old Sunbury Pike," was home to several Underground Railroad stations along the northern Alum Creek corridor, where residents sheltered those seeking freedom. Ohio Dominican University, formerly the College of St. Mary of the Springs, preserves this heritage and the waterway that runs through its grounds. The Underground Railroad was neither underground nor a railroad, but a loosely connected system of safe havens where people escaping slavery were sheltered, fed, clothed, nursed, concealed, disguised, and instructed during their journey to freedom. Because the movement operated in secrecy to protect participants from civil law and slave-catchers, many details remained hidden. Ohio was permanently shaped by the thousands of runaway slaves who passed through or settled in the state.
