The 125-mile Harriet Tubman Tubman Underground Railroad Byway preserves and interprets the landscapes where Harriet Tubman was born, lived, labored, and fled. In 1849, she liberated herself from the slave-holding society that existed here. She returned numerous times, at great risk to her life and well-being, to rescue her family and friends and to inspire others to follow her footsteps to freedom. More than a century after her death, many places in the Eastern Shore's mosaic of waterways, forests, and fields would still be recognizable to her. Along the byway, people can learn about the lives of enslaved and free blacks, abolitionists, and slave holders, as well as the escape routes used by Tubman and other freedom seekers. Nearby waterways offer a unique perspective on her daring escape story and on stories of family, community, faith, freedom, and her pursuit of equality, justice, and self-determination for all.