Exploring Auburn, New York: Harriet Tubman’s Chosen Home
*This post was sponsored by the Cayuga County Office of Tourism but reflects my own experiences and honest opinions*
Harriet Tubman’s Home in Auburn, New York
I arrived at Syracuse Hancock International airport on a Thursday morning just a day after the 2024 Presidential Election results were announced. Honestly, my heart and mind were heavy. I was processing what the results now meant for the future of this country and what it meant for my future as a Black woman living in the south. On the flip side, a constant reminder echoed in my head: “Just keep going.” It’s something Black women in this country often have to do, regardless of the circumstances. And "just keep going" is exactly what I planned to do.
Before the election, I had received an incredible opportunity: an invitation from Cayuga County, known as the “Chosen Home of Harriet Tubman,” to visit for the weekend and experience what made this community so special. Contrary to what we often learn about Harriet Tubman, Auburn, NY was actually where she spent the last 50 years of her life, owned property, married her second husband and where she is laid to rest. I honestly had not heard much of Auburn prior to this trip or what made it so special that Harriet would choose to live here, but I was excited to now learn why.
“Welcome to New York!” - Noah, Cayuga County’s PR Manager and my guide for the weekend, warmly greeted me as I stepped out of the airport. The air was crisp with a cool breeze, I expected it to be colder. As we made the 45 minute drive to Auburn, I noticed the autumn colors of the trees, a mix of cinnamon, chestnut and forest green. I had never been to upstate New York in the fall but it seems as though this may have been the ideal time to come. It was gorgeous.
What first stood out to me was how clear and clean the air felt in this city. When you live in a big city, you don’t often realize just how heavily polluted the air is. I joked with Noah that it felt like I was looking at a real-life Bob Ross painting. “The peak of fall has just passed, but there’s still some color on the trees, which is nice,” he mentioned.
Once we arrived in Cayuga County we stopped briefly for lunch at Prison City Brewing, a pub style restaurant in the heart of downtown that was actually pretty packed for a midday Thursday. It felt like everyone knew each other, even in the restaurant. The small town feeling in a state like New York was somewhat of a mindbender for me as someone who naively only thinks of NYC when thinking of New York. But it was refreshing and nice to see.
Cayuga County is located in the Finger Lakes region of the state. The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long and narrow lakes that run through the region. After lunch we took a walk around Owasco Lake, and although one of the smaller lakes of the Finger Lakes, it was equally comparable in beauty.
“Okay, this is actually a Bob Ross painting,” I joked again. The colors, the trees, the skyline—everything was truly breathtaking. Noah mentioned that Cayuga is often said to have some of the clearest lake water in the country, and after seeing it, I could believe it. This place could make even the most novice photographer feel like a pro, with how easily the beauty is captured.
It’s something we don’t have in Atlanta that I don’t realize I miss until I encounter it somewhere else—water. The closest thing we have is Lake Lanier, a lake I grew up being warned to avoid. But a pure, clear body of water is hard to find. In this moment, I realized how much I missed it and how much peace it can bring just to sit and stare at it.
From there, we made our first stop at the Seward House Museum. I learned that this was the home of William H. Seward, who was U.S. Secretary of State under President Lincoln, and his wife Frances Seward, was the one who invited Harriet Tubman to move to Auburn from Canada and sold her the property on which she built her home. The Sewards were fond of Harriet and had developed a friendly relationship with her through their abolitionist work.
We toured the home which was kept in great condition over the years and holds immense history of the family and somewhat of a time capsule of the time period. What stood out to me was the basement, specifically the kitchen, which was used as a stop on the Underground Railroad. This was the second time in my life I've seen and stood in a place that was used and recognized as an Underground Railroad stop. It’s somewhat disorienting yet powerful to witness. This was really our reality. It brings the known horrors of slavery to the forefront of your mind but also the reminder that there were those who did not let fear stop them and were working to put an end to the horrific system.
This kitchen was once a stop on the Underground Railroad
Also in the basement is the “Forged in Freedom: The Bond of the Seward Tubman Families” exhibit that displays the relationship between the two families and gives an in-depth timeline and back story of Harriet Tubman’s life. I, for one, did not know her given name was not Harriet or that she initially left alone to find freedom, before she came back for her family. I also learned the story of her severe head injury in her youth which she believed gave her “visions” from God that bestowed her with a knowing that her life had a bigger meaning. I learned more about her in this basement than I had ever known in all my years of schooling.
After leaving the Seward home, I checked into my hotel to rest a bit before our final event for the night. The event “Fierce! The Finale!” was presented by aaduna, an online journal that ‘embraces creative people of color seeking to expand, transition, or transform the current landscape of literary and artistic thinking’. This particular event was the last in the series and featured performances by Cyd Charisse Fulton (East Stroudsburg, PA), Karen Faris (Rochester, NY) and Tamara J. Madison (Orlando, FL) with music by Ron Van Nostrand.
We were warmly greeted by Lead Park Ranger, Brittany Lane, who reminded us of why this night was special. This event was not only being held at Harriet Tubman’s home church Thompson Memorial AME Zion Church, where she worshiped and also the location of her funeral, but it was also the first event held in the space since the church was restored by the National Park Service. (Fun fact: Tubman is the only American to have two national parks in her honor.) This park has two buildings which includes the actual church and the adjacent patronage, which acts as the welcome center for the Park.
Thompson Memorial AME Zion Church
Harriet Tubman’s Home Church
One thing in my few years of extensive traveling I have learned, it’s always a good idea to connect with the local arts community because that will truly reveal the heart and the pulse of the community. Everyone was warm and inviting and it felt like I was in community with old friends. The night of performances was filled with genuine laughter and connection, followed by an after party at Lavish Lounge which happens to be the only black owned restaurant in Cayuga County.
I enjoyed talking and getting to know the poets and the inspiration behind their art. I was even gifted a poem by Bart, a poet who had traveled from Rochester. That small town community vibe I had felt earlier at lunch was in the room again. This place was all about community.
I got back to my hotel room and reflected on the day. Although I had arrived in Auburn still carrying the weight of the election results, I was beginning to feel a bit more at ease. I was eager to see how the rest of the trip would unfold, especially the visit to Tubman’s property, which was scheduled for the next day and was the part I most anticipated.
The next morning, I woke up refreshed and ready for the day. After a quick breakfast with Noah and the Culture Travels Media team at New Hope Mills Café, we were on our way to Harriet’s property. The weather was cool. The drive to her property was short, and if you blink, you might miss the sign indicating you’ve reached it. However, stepping outside of that car and walking the pavement onto the grounds was chilling.
This was Harriet Tubman’s property. She actually walked these grounds.
The realization of that took some time for me to process.
I felt an automatic reverence for the space. I didn’t want to talk too loud or walk too fast. It felt sacred. The property itself is 32 acres. Harriet initially purchased 7 acres from the Sewards for $1200 with $25 down and later purchased the remaining 25 acres at a local auction. She knew the importance of Black land ownership and family dwellings.
I first walked to her original home, a brick house which sat on 7 acres of land. The house burned down from a laundry fire in 1880 but was rebuilt on the same foundation shortly after that by Harriet and her family.
While you cannot go inside the home, you can walk around, peek into the windows and sit on the porch. The porch where her family said Harriet often sat to look over her property and find peace.
I got chills sitting on that porch. It is one of those feelings very hard to describe but only can be felt. There are moments in life where you can feel the presence of something much larger than you happening around you and that was one of those moments for me.
Harriet is often described to us as this mythical being and it can be hard to personalize her and view her as a real person. But sitting on her porch, on the sacred grounds of her land? She was definitely real. And walking and taking in her space was an honor and a call to action.
As I walked the rest of the 25 acre property, I just took it all in. And like a scene out of a movie as I walked across the grass, 3 baby deer pranced across the yard. Everyone stood in awe.
I walked to the white house that stands opposite the brick home. This home, now referenced as “The Home for the Aged and Indigent Negroes” was designated as a National Landmark in 1975. One of Harriet’s dreams was to turn this home into a place that carried on her work of taking care of the old and poor people of her community. The home operated from 1908 until the early 1920’s and is where Harriet herself lived in the final years of her life until her death in 1913.
It was reopened to the public as a museum in 1953 by the AME Zion church. The property is now part of Harriet Tubman National Historical Park, a partnership park between the National Park Service and Harriet Tubman Home, Inc, an independent non-profit established by the AME Zion Church.
After spending some time at the property, we made our way back to the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park and Patronage. We heard an amazing recollection of Harriet’s life and her relationship to the church by Park Ranger Brittany Lane.
I learned some interesting facts here. Harriet’s church has been struck by lightning 3 times but has stayed intact. (If that is not some kind of divine intervention, I don’t know what is.) She also helped to raise money to have the church built. Her ties to the church were another example of how much she truly valued community.
From there, we made our way down the street to Fort Hill Cemetery, Harriet’s final resting place. As soon as I stepped outside of the car I felt a heaviness come over me. It was almost like my body knew what I was about to see before my eyes could actually see it.
Harriet’s headstone is located on West Lawn C and happens to rest under the largest pine tree in the cemetery, planted by her family members.
As I walked closer to the headstone I had that familiar feeling from earlier of walking on sacred ground.
HARRIET TUBMAN-DAVIS.
The front of the headstone displays only her name in all capital letters. An honor that proves the authority her name holds. The headstone was adorned with little trinkets, rocks, flowers, buttons, etc, I imagine from family and those who have come from all over to honor her.
I stood for about 10 minutes before walking toward the back and noticing another engraving.
To the Memory of Harriet-Tubman Davis
Heroine of the Underground Railroad.
Nurse and Scout in the Civil War
Born about 1820 in Maryland.
Died March 10, 1913 at Auburn, NY.
“Servant of God, Well Done”
Erected by the
Empire State Federation of Womens Clubs
July 5, 1937
I had such mixed emotions standing and taking it all in. On one hand, I felt so privileged and enamored to be here and feel the presence and power of Harriet. On the other hand, I felt a sadness wondering what she would think about the state of the country now. Would she be surprised? Would she feel we’ve done enough to maintain progress? How would she feel to know that even today, nearly 108 years after her passing, we are still fighting a familiar fight.
Earlier at the church Brittany Lane told us what Harriet’s last words were.
“I go away to prepare a place for you, that where I am you also may be”, a reference to John 14:3 in the Bible. Thinking of that brought a shift in my perspective. No matter the circumstance or what life threw her way, she was constantly thinking of her community and how she could be of service. Harriet experienced enough to take the average person down. But she kept going…
This gave me some reassurance and peace. Although I was still lamenting on the state of the country and wondering what was to come, I understood that it wasn't about me. It almost felt embarrassing to be worried about that in the spiritual presence of someone such as Tubman.
I understood there is still work to be done and in life you just have to keep going.
Harriet Tubman’s Headstone
After spending a few more minutes reflecting and soaking in the moment, I made my way back to the car. One thing I didn’t anticipate before my trip was how mentally taxing experiencing all of this would be. Generally traveling can be tiring, but I believe all of the information I took in plus the emotional weight of it all was a lot to process. I sat quietly trying to allow my brain to catch up with the moment.
Our group went to Cafe 108 for lunch, a small cafe in downtown Auburn that had one of the best mushroom lattes I’ve ever tasted. At lunch, I sat with Noah, Angela Daddabbo (Director of The Auburn Public Theater), Leroy and Corlon from Culture Travels and Lagueria Davis, (Director of Black Barbie: A Documentary). The conversation ranged from discussions about the significance of what we had experienced that day to how travel has broadened our perspectives as young Black travelers. The lunch and conversation brought levity to the day we had all experienced.
After lunch, our last historic stop for the day was the Ted Case Laboratory at the Cayuga Museum.
Theodore (Ted) Case was an Auburn native credited with the invention of creating the sound-on-film system. ‘The Case Research Lab exhibits the working spaces of the darkroom, chemistry lab, and recording studio; the first sound camera; experimental recording equipment; and a history of the commercialization of sound film.’ The museum has much of the original recording equipment that Case used. It even has the video of him recording the first sound test which was pretty cool to see.
At this time, we went back to our hotel to rest for the evening before our last event of the night. Admittedly, I was a bit tired and still processing the day but excited for the night.
My final event for the evening would be the screening of’ “Black Barbie: A Documentary” a film by Lagueria Davis at the Cayuga Film Festival. The film shares the story behind the creation of Black Barbie, offering a personal lens through the experiences of Beulah Mae Mitchell, Davis's aunt, who worked at Mattel. Davis was a recipient of the Harriet Tubman Freedom Award, an honor sponsored by the Tourism board and given to a filmmaker who utilizes their talents in storytelling to create powerful and meaningful art.
The highlights from that evening were the talkback Q&A session with Davis and also meeting one of Tubman’s descendants, Judy. Although meeting Judy was unplanned, it was a special moment for me. Once again something that seemed bigger than me and reinforced that Tubman was real. What a legacy to be born into.
After the screening, I observed everyone who was in the room. There were business owners, writers, creators, filmmakers and the like. Everyone was filled with such positive energy and a vigor to do their work. The work they felt they were called to do. A Toni Morrison quote came to mind.
“This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.
I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge — even wisdom. Like art.”
This was just the space I needed to be in this weekend to remind me of who I was and the work still needed to be done.
Group photo after the screening
It was an amazing day.
Saturday started with a walk around the Equal Rights Heritage Center. This center’s exhibit includes tributes and painted portraits of notable New York abolitionists and activists, including Frederick Douglass, Shirley Chisholm, Dorothy Wright and many more. It also has an interactive tech exhibit. The center serves as a welcome center for the city and has all of the information you would need about Cayuga and surrounding regions.
The remainder of the afternoon we spent at the Cayuga Film Festival, now in its 4th year, the Film Festival highlights the work from high school and college emerging filmmakers in New York state. I wrote about the film festival and the Black Barbie documentary screening here.
Outside of the Auburn Public Theater
That evening we had a very special community dinner that brought together representatives from the tourism board, Harriet Tubman’s great, great, great, grand niece Judy, local business owner Melody Johnson, the Culture Travels Media team and filmmaker Lagueria Davis. It felt like such a heartfelt conclusion to the weekend, highlighting the rich history and community spirit of Auburn all at one table.
On my last Day in Auburn, I woke up to spend the last few hours touring some final historic stops.
I stopped for breakfast at Auburn Bagel Company, which happens to be owned by the brother of one of the directors of the Auburn Public Theater. (Another element of that small town charm!)
From there we drove through the Sherwood Equal Rights Historic District to our first stop at the Opendore Project, which holds the history of Emily Howland. Howland was a prominent abolitionist in New York and was very active in the women’s suffrage movement. It was in her scrapbook that the youngest photo that currently exists of Harriet Tubman was found.
Quilt of Emily Howland created by Ellen M. Blalock
Photo of Harriet found in Emily Howland’s Scrapbook
This picture of Tubman and the remainder of the scrapbook were sold at a New York auction in 2017 to the Smithsonian for $130,000 plus a $32,500 auctioneer fee. Ironically, I visited DC earlier this year and took a picture of the original picture that now sits in the Smithsonian Museum of African American History.
The original photo now sits in the Smithsonian
The Howland Stone Store Museum, just a few steps down the road displays Howland’s contributions to movements for the abolition of slavery, education, and women's rights, including an original Underground Railroad pass and women's suffrage posters.
The building is said to have had ties with the Underground Railroad, although its exact relationship is unclear. It holds many stories of escaped slaves and their new lives in Sherwood.
Upstairs is their “cabinet of curiosities,” which includes a vast collection of artifacts from the travels of Emily Howland and her niece during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This was actually so cool to see. I mean they have everything up there, rocks and sand from the Sahara Desert, shark eggs from Nantucket, a whale jaw bone from Monterey, CA, 100 year old arabic pita bread and the list goes on.
The last few hours before I headed to the airport were spent immersing myself further in Auburn’s charm. We stopped for lunch, made one final visit to Harriet Tubman’s property, and even went to The Schweinfurth Art Center, a multi-arts facility that offers more than a dozen contemporary art exhibitions each year.
As my trip came to a close, I felt a renewed sense of energy.
The experience brought me back to a term I resonated with in December 2023 on my first trip to Ghana. “Sankofa”, an Akan term that means, “to go back and get it” or in other words, remember where you came from to know where you are going. That word was a perfect depiction of this experience. There is such a deep and often painful history in our country, but it’s the preservation and remembrance of this history and honoring those who came before us, that helps to guide us forward.
Visiting the community that Harriet Tubman chose to call home later in life was powerful. Even in her passing, she reminded me of the importance of leaving the world better than you found it.
As I boarded my flight, I couldn’t help but think about how this trip had grounded me. In a time when the future felt uncertain, being in a place so steeped in history with such sacred grounds, reminded me of a strength and hope that can carry you through life’s heaviest moments, even when the odds are stacked against you.
Harriet’s legacy is a testament to that, and for that, I am grateful.
Thank you Auburn for an amazing weekend, I will be back.
