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NORTH BLOOMFIELD -- In the 1820s, the Warren Ashtabula Turnpike became an active route on the Underground Railroad for escaped slaves to find freedom.
The turnpike, now state Route 45, was, at the time, the most direct route to Canada. Along the way, in North Bloomfield, slaves would receive help from abolitionist Ephraim Brown, who settled in North Bloomfield in 1822. In 1823, he encountered his first chance to help slaves.
"Route 45 was basically the road to freedom. Bloomfield, little small Bloomfield, had a huge part (in helping slaves escape)," said Roger Peterson Jr., president of the North Bloomfield Historical Society.
The Trumbull County Historical Society partnered with the North Bloomfield Historical Society to highlight Brown's activism for a Second Saturday walking tour on Saturday. The walking tour began at Bloomfield Town Hall -- where the historical society is housed -- and stopped at the Shelter House, the Brownwood House and the Charles Brown House.
"We are trying to highlight history throughout the whole township and Bloomfield has some really significant history," said Lisa Ramsey, treasurer of the Trumbull County Historical Society.
Brown was one of the pioneer settlers of Trumbull County and although he didn't do anything to stop slavery, he did his best to help escaped slaves find freedom.
"I have been taught from my cradle to despise slavery," Brown said, according to his biography.
In September 1823, Bloomfield residents saw a black family coming up the road and later in the day three white men came into the area looking for that family.
"These men, from Virginia, described the family perfectly," Peterson said. "These men were slave hunters."
Residents encouraged the men to spend the night at the hotel, promising to help them look for the escaped slaves in the morning. That night, Brown sent some men up toward Orwell to retrieve the slaves and bring them back to Bloomfield to hide, Peterson said.
The hunters woke up late the next morning to a clumsy inn keeper who couldn't figure out which key unlocked the horse barn where each of their horses was missing a shoe and the township blacksmith didn't have any horseshoe nails to fix them.
The hunters eventually made it to Ashtabula, but didn't find their missing slaves. When they came back, Brown informed them they didn't pay the turnpike toll and the men were arrested and fined $5 each.
"Ephraim definitely led the township with helping slaves. He would've been fined $1,000 per slave if he was ever caught," Peterson said.
The tour highlighted many aspects of Bloomfield's history.
"You hear the stories, but the people don't seem real," said North Bloomfield native Joyce Everitt, who now lives in Farmington with her husband, Gary. "There are lots of stories and some you don't quite remember, so it's nice to hear them again."
Next month, the Trumbull County Historical Society will partner with the Hartford Historical Society to continue the Second Saturday walking tour series.
bshiller@tribtoday.com