Duff House

This New England-style farmhouse was built circa 1848 by Samuel Wilder to resemble his former New York State home. Robert and Lucy Duff purchased the property in 1868, though historians claim they lived there during the Civil War and that the house served as a station on the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad secretly assisted runaway slaves through a loosely constructed network of escape routes that began in the South, crossed through the North, and ended in Canada. Stories tell of slaves from the South being hidden in the cellar there, and of Robert Duff transporting them by wagon at night to another station, Buena Vista Corners, 6 miles west of town, as they continued their journey to freedom.

West Dundee, Illinois · United States