PLYMOUTH

Joel Blakeslee, Ferrand Dunbar, and William Bull

-"The Plymouth operators, to whom Wakeman presumably made his deliveries, included Joel Blakeslee, Ferrand Dunbar, and William Bull.  They not only handled passengers from Wilton;  they also had to keep watch for unaccompanied fugitives on foot who had lost their way on the western line between New Haven and Farmington.  The Plymouth "minute men" had to set these wanderers on the right track, which took them a dozen miles eastward to Farmington."  (Strother  1962:  122)

-"As a conductor, Wakeman (of Norwalk) was bold and tireless, taking his "packages of hardware and dry goods" to places as distant as Plymouth and Middletown - trips of forth and fifty miles as the crow flies, farther than that by road."  (Strother  1962:  121-122)

-From Appendix 2, Underground Railroad Agents in Connecticut, (Strother 1962:  210)

East Plymouth Road

-Directly across from the intersection of Marsh Road, very close to the present entrance of the trail that leads to Tory Den.
(email correspondence)
GPS  N  41-41-97  /  W  72-58-95

Tory Den

Photo by Carol A. Hanny
Underground Railroad hideout, well known since Revolutionary War days.

Henry Terry

"Henry Terry, grandson of the clockmaker, lived on North Street in Plymouth.  An ardent abolitionist, he allegedly had tunnels running from his cellar to an outbuilding to whisk slaves to safety.  The presence of the tunnels like these fed Southern fears about Northern complicity in helping slaves escape, and the belief that the election of Lincoln in 1860 would lead to legalization of the Underground Railroad were major factors in the decision of southern states to secede from the Union in the winter of 186--1861.  Interestingly, when the Emancipation Proclamation was issued almost two years into the war, the number of fugitive slaves making their way to the north dropped precipitously, as they only needed to reach Union lines, not Canada, to achieve freedom."