Aquia Landing was a significant gateway for enslaved people seeking freedom, including William and Ellen Craft, Henry “Box” Brown, and John Washington. It was the RF&P Railroad terminus from 1842-1872, and the only direct rail-to-steamboat transfer point on the Potomac River between Richmond, VA and Washington, DC. From April-September 1862, an estimated 10,000 freedom seekers sought refuge in Stafford behind Union lines, and many passed through this point on their trail to freedom.