In Lyme Township, at least eight settlements in the Firelands region, including Lyme, served as regular stops on the Underground Railroad, a loosely connected system of safe havens for people escaping slavery on their way to freedom in Canada. One of many local stations was the Seymour House, where those en route were given shelter and safe passage. Runaways were often fed and hidden during the day, then concealed under wagonloads of farm produce as they were moved from station to station, usually at night. Several Lyme citizens held strong abolitionist beliefs, including Calvin Barnard, Worthington Nims, John Seymour, and Abner Strong, all of whom served at one time or another as conductors. Though neither underground nor a railroad, this movement sheltered, fed, clothed, nursed, concealed, disguised, and instructed those fleeing the brutal conditions of slavery, and its secrecy helped protect participants from civil law and slave-catchers. Ohio's history was permanently shaped by the thousands of runaway slaves who passed through or settled in the state.