Gettysburg Underground Railroad Site Tour

Join us for a one hour walking tour of Gettysburg’s only Underground Railroad (UGRR) Site recognized by the National Park Service’s Network to Freedom. The tour covers one-half mile and visits the site of the McAllister’s Mill ruin, the ford across Rock Creek, the mill pond, the mill race and the house site.

Tours leave from the historical marker at the south end of the former Mulligan MacDuffer Adventure Golf parking lot at 1360 Baltimore Pike in Gettysburg, PA. The parking lot is at the intersection of the Baltimore Pike and the McAllister Mill Road.

It is not necessary to make a reservation for the tour, and an Historic Gettysburg-Adams County (HGAC) guide will be on site regardless of the weather. Just show up for the tour and enjoy an informative, enlightening walk in the woods. Suggested donations for the tour are $5 for students and $10 for adults. The tour is on a privately owned part of the battlefield and natural footpaths are used, so good footwear is recommended.

Everyone who comes on the tour will receive an NPS Underground Railroad brochure in addition to a souvenir brochure for the McAllister’s Mill Site that was created exclusively for HGAC and that is generously illustrated with a map, photographs and the art of historical artist Bradley Schmehl. Junior Ranger booklets and badges are available for students who participate in the tour.

The Underground Railroad site was most probably one of the first stops made in Adams County by people seeking freedom on their flight north from slavery in the South. About two miles south of Gettysburg, PA and six miles north of the Mason-Dixon Line, McAllister’s Mill provided shelter to hundreds of freedom seekers during the years leading up to the Civil War. After receiving assistance at the late 18^th century grist mill, the freedom seekers were guided north through Gettysburg into Upper Adams County to the homes of free African Americans and Quaker Abolitionists, forming critical links in one of the earliest regional networks of the Underground Railroad in the nation.

In 2011, the McAllister’s Mill site was accepted into the National Park Service National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom (UGRR NTF) which is a nationwide collection of sites that have a verifiable association to the Underground Railroad. For more information on the Network to Freedom, please consult the NPS website at www.nps.gov/history/ugrr/. For more information about this tour and HGAC, visit www.hgaconline.org/events/.