As a Marylander and Black woman with an affinity for Black history, I’ve spent considerable time learning about the extraordinary life of Harriet Tubman. Her name is synonymous with the Underground Railroad, for which she is its most famous conductor. She used that network of secret routes and safe houses to help more than 70 enslaved people escape to freedom to both non-slaveholding U.S. states and Canada. Tubman also served as a spy for the Union Army, leading more than 700 additional souls to emancipation.
Her list of accomplishments is often distilled into bite-size history lessons, and what’s frequently omitted from the syllabus is her life after the Underground Railroad—when she spent an impressive five decades as a free woman, landowner, churchgoer, and community leader in Auburn, New York. Without the missing context, her achievements can take on a superhero-esque sheen, and although I value stories of her feats, the heroic arc of a Harriet Tubman apotheosis can make it seem that ordinary people are incapable of doing extraordinary things.
The more I thought about what history omits, the more I began to think about my own life. As a native of Miami, Florida, my own genesis is very different from the life I’ve forged in Maryland. As I navigated my way through the end of a marriage, quietly wondering who I might become once things settled down, I wanted to know what freedom looked like after survival, and who Harriet Tubman was after the rescues ended. To understand that chapter of her life, I set out for Auburn, New York, where travelers can visit the homes, church, and landmarks that shaped Tubman’s life after liberation.
This bronze statue of Harriet Tubman stands outside the New York Equal Rights Heritage Center in downtown Auburn. The grave of Harriet Tubman-Davis at Fort Hill Cemetery marks the final resting place of the abolitionist, veteran, and community leader who spent more than 50 years living in Auburn.
Photos by Tykesha Spivey Burton
In mid-September, I boarded a plane at Thurgood Marshall International Airport in Baltimore and arrived at Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport in New York. My quest, beginning in airports named after two Black historical giants, seemed like a good sign.
From Rochester, I drove one hour to Tubman’s chosen home in Auburn, where she was simply known as “Mrs. Davis” after her second marriage to Civil War veteran Nelson Davis in 1869. She was drawn to the city’s proximity to the Canadian border, and its status as a hotbed of reform and abolitionism in the 19th century. This Finger Lakes region is also considered the birthplace of the modern women’s rights movement.
During my visit last year, the city of Auburn organized events for Harriet Tubman’s Self-Emancipation Day on September 17th, commemorating her self-liberation on the same date in 1849. That recognition is part of a broader, intentional effort to honor Tubman not only as a national historic figure but also as part of Auburn’s identity. The city has shown its commitment to telling Tubman’s post–Underground Railroad story through educational programming, preservation, and public art.
One example is the Harriet’s Lantern Trail, a self-guided tour–meets–scavenger hunt created by the Equal Rights Heritage Center that highlights key sites in Tubman’s later years. Visitors can scan a QR code at each site for a deep dive into history then receive a prize once all 11 sites are scanned.
The following sites are all part of the Harriet’s Lantern Trail, which offers an insightful look into Tubman’s life in freedom.
New York Equal Rights Heritage Center
25 South Street, Auburn, New York
My first stop in Auburn was the New York Equal Rights Heritage Center, which spotlights prominent New York human rights activists. A powerful 7.5 foot bronze statue of Harriet looking off into the distance while holding a lantern greets visitors as they enter. Inside, walls are adorned with protest signs, and a framed, intricately designed quilt of a portrait of Tubman is on display, while interactive exhibits play speeches by such equal rights pioneers as Frederick Douglass and Eleanor Roosevelt. Exhibits are color-coded: purple for women’s rights, green for the abolition of slavery, and blue for human rights.
Harriet Tubman National Historical Park
Harriet Tubman’s modest brick home and surrounding farmland in Auburn reflect the quieter chapter of her life, when she became a landowner, neighbor, and advocate for others in need.
Photo by Zack Frank/Shutterstock
Harriet Tubman Home
180 South Street, Auburn, New York
My second day brought me to the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park, which includes the Harriet Tubman Home; a modest two-story brick home built in 1882 where she lived with her husband, Nelson Davis; the Harriet Tubman home for Aged & Indigent Negroes, where Tubman helped house and care for elderly, poor, and formerly enslaved individuals; and the Thompson Memorial A.M.E. Zion church, located about a mile and a half away from Tubman’s land.
Tubman purchased the original 7 acres of farmland in 1859 from Frances Seward, a devoted abolitionist and close friend, who was also the wife of William Seward, U.S. Secretary of State for President Abraham Lincoln. She purchased 25 more acres at an auction in 1896, where she built the home for the aged, which was financially supported by the Mother African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Church in New York City. Today, the buildings are still owned and operated by Mother AME Zion Church and the National Park Service. The Harriet Tubman Home is currently closed until March 2026.
At the edge of the property, a historic marker in bold yellow lettering identifies the site as belonging to Harriet Tubman—Moses of Her People. Just beyond the marker, I wandered past the Home for the Aged, a white, wood-framed structure with a welcoming wraparound porch. When I reached Tubman’s two-story brick home with a simple portico gracing the front steps, my pride swelled. The life Tubman chose was so much bigger than the life assigned to her.
Inside, the Harriet Tubman Visitor Center at the rear of the property, I was greeted by Rev. Paul Carter, who was the last to live on the property with his family. Two long timelines mounted on the wall trace key moments in U.S. history and the corresponding events in Tubman’s life. Rev. Carter used those timelines to deliver a spirited retelling of her life, positioning her story into the wider context of American history.
His rendering added depth, nuance, and humanity to her legacy. Early in the presentation, Carter passed around a two-pound iron weight, like the one that struck Tubman in the head while she was an enslaved teen in Maryland. The incident caused a traumatic brain injury that plagued her with seizures for the rest of her life.
Thompson A.M.E. Zion Church
47 Parker Street, Auburn, New York
Next, I visited the historic Thompson Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church, Tubman’s church home for more than 20 years, and a place of worship very active in the abolitionist movement. Her funeral services were held at the church in 1913, and she remained a woman deeply connected to her faith and surrounding community until her death of pneumonia at the age of 91. The National Park Service has recently restored the church to reflect its 1913 appearance, and the church and parsonage are seasonally open for tours on Fridays and Saturdays from May 23 to November 1.
Seward House Museum
The Seward House Museum in Auburn was once home to William and Frances Seward, close allies of Harriet Tubman and active participants in the abolitionist movement.
Photo by Zack Frank/Shutterstock
33 South Street, Auburn, New York
Then I walked to the Seward House Museum, the former home of William and Frances Seward (currently closed for winter until March 3). I toured the 30-plus-room mansion that’s brimming with historic artifacts detailing the family’s extensive service and work with the abolition movement. The home itself functioned as a stop on the Underground Railroad, and in the basement (where the family often hid refugees) is an exhibit called Forged in Freedom: The Bond of the Seward-Tubman Families, which explores the connection between the two households. The Sewards provided a home for Tubman’s niece, Margaret, when Harriet helped her escape enslavement in Maryland.
Fort Hill Cemetery
19 Fort Street Cemetery, Auburn, New York
A Norway spruce stands sentry over Tubman’s grave site in Fort Hill Cemetery. On one side of the slate-colored headstone, the name Harriet Tubman Davis is plainly etched. On the other side, facing the evergreen, is a litany of accolades, including the inscription, “Heroine of the Underground Railroad, nurse and scout in the Civil War.”
A small collection of stones, left by visitors, rests atop the headstone, small offerings intended to honor her memory (though not publicly encouraged, as it is an active cemetery). A small U.S. Veteran metal stake and three American flags are on the side of her grave indicating her military honors burial. When I turned to leave, I thought about mortality and legacy. With a fuller picture of Tubman-Davis’s life, I began to believe that her simple acts of care for the poor and the aged may have had a greater impact on her legacy than her most celebrated triumphs.
I traveled to Auburn in search of the historical juggernaut, Harriet Tubman, but met the woman she became, Mrs. Davis, whose famed journeys along the Underground Railroad were not the end of her story but rather its beginning.
Helpful resources if you visit
- Websites for planning a Harriet Tubman-themed trip to Auburn: Harriet’s Lantern Trail, Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Tour – Cayuga County App for a self-guided way to trace Tubman’s life across the Finger Lakes.
- Places to eat and drink: Breakfast at New Hope Mills Café, lunch at Café 108, dinner at Osteria Salina, and Long Point Winery or Prison City Brewing for drinks.
