Fishing Creek Walk on the Pilgrims Pathway

Fishing Creek Road, Lancaster County, PA

Four organizations partnered to host our first group hike up Fishing Creek Road in southern Lancaster County, PA, as a pilgrimage to the people who traveled this route on the Underground Railroad (1820-1870). With over thirty walkers representing the African American History Society of South-Central Pennsylvania (AAHS), Lancaster Conservancy, Lancaster History, and the Keystone Trails Association, we endured near triple-digit heat and high humidity until noon then shuttled to a local township park for a relaxing AAHS luncheon in the shade of a pavilion along the creek.

In all of my research on the Pilgrims Pathway, it became clear early on that the route itself was not one particular pathway but a complex system of backroads, farm lanes, and creek valley wagon roads that carried people from the slave state of Maryland after crossing the Mason Dixon Line (most fleeing Baltimore and Northern Virginia) and across the Susquehanna River at the first opportunity once in Pennsylvania. Positioned so close to the boundary with its compliment of slave catchers, bounty hunters, and federal agents whose job it was to return human property to owners, the Pilgrims Pathway was also one of the most dangerous routes to Philadelphia and further points north/northeast.

It also became clear as my research continued through the pandemic years (lots of solo walking!) that the route was larger in topographical area than just the twenty-mile stretch of rugged hills and rolling farmlands between the river and the town of Christiana. If I include the Maryland stretch from Havre de Grace along the western shore of the river to Christiana, it is well over thirty miles walking.

On this very hot day we only did a scant four miles and even then, because of the heat, shaved off the last last mile road-walking to Drumore Park. And, we did this tiny section in daytime, not at night when nearly all Freedom Seekers would have been made their way up through the river hills and ravines heading east. Experienced walkers and hikers all, our group was glad for that shuttle pick up and for that last exposed road mile to be eliminated. Everyone found the experience, even clipped at the end, to be deeply moving and relevant.

One of the reasons for locating our walk through the Fishing Creek Nature Preserve (Lancaster Conservancy) was to highlight the importance of walking and hiking for bringing attention to local organizations and agencies that preserve sites of historical importance. We passed two on-preserve sites situated very close together right along the former wagon road that are nothing but foundation stones, a gate post, and a crumbling chimney. Our stop at this combined site was enhanced by Lancaster History’s public historian Randy Harris explaining connections to the UGRR. Even though we couldn’t access the sites due to high weeds, poison ivy, and a steep bank, the group was pleased to hear that the Conservancy acknowledges cultural and social history sites are important to its land stewardship efforts.

Even though the ruins of structures were scant, the group talked about how important it was to them to know that these sites are on protected land. There was a sense of rejuvenation among walkers that they had encountered the memory of these places. One walker explained to me how just knowing what happened along this old road, neighbors helping strangers and neighbors watching out for each other, provided her with a degree of spiritual renewal.

Though the ruins were unremarkable and almost invisible during this rainy season of excessive weed growth, she shared that efforts to preserve the stories of the sites in relation to the pedestrian experience of simply walking by them were very much appreciated. She was buoyed, even in that oppressive heat and humidity, by the idea that she walked where Freedom Seekers walked, where a safehouse sat just off the creek for anyone who needed comfort and protection, and an African American school stood at a critical junction in the network of alternative paths. “The school site means a lot to me, a woman of color, whose great-great-grandmother taught in a one-room school house for rural black children in North Carolina. The idea that learning happened here, that education was certainly a path to freedom, just makes my heart so happy.”

Historian Dr. Leroy Hopkins

The group was delivered to the little pavilion along Fishing Creek at the Drumore Township Park, a quiet little forested valley oasis among the open, hot hills of farmland. Dr. Leroy Hopkins representing the AAHS gave a deeply moving talk about the actions of local Drumore residents who involved themselves in the abolitionists movement.

I don’t know that his talk would have carried the weight of meaning that it did without the pilgrimage experience of walking Fishing Creek Road. Dr. Hopkins explained that we’d walked through the heart of a historic Free Black community that at one time was home to nearly three hundred Black residents during the 1850s and how that community, now lost to history, not only participated in UGRR activities but gave rise to several prominent Black abolitionists and civil rights activists notable in state and national history. I could see many of our walkers beam with pride.

Reflecting on the day, I have repositioned my thinking on the idea of pedestrianism as simply recreational, that “just a walk” can become a powerful motivator for fostering a sense of pride and protection for the pedestrian landscape.

Not all walks need to be described as pilgrimage, but any walk can inspire a love for environmental history and walking as history. Walking is embedded in the history of our rural landscapes and with the elevation of pilgrimage practices, can be a powerful activity that promotes and maintains historical preservation in story, sites, and stewardship.