After a restful, quiet night at Inglis Falls, I rode to Owen Sound in the morning and visited BME (British Methodist Episcopal) Church, established in 1856. It served enslaved people arriving on the Underground Railroad (UGRR), and its parishioners are considered the founders of the Annual Emancipation Day Celebration, the longest-running Emancipation Day festival in North America, held at the northernmost terminus of Underground Railroad in Harrison Park during the first weekend in August.

From the church, I rode to the northernmost terminus of UGRR, where the bike route ends/begins in Harrison Park. The terminus was located in a peaceful green space in the park. The first thing I noticed was a wooden post marked as “Freedom Trail.” The post welcomed me as if it knew I was on the path I named Great Freedom Loop for my third full-circle journey, hiking the Appalachian Trail northbound and biking the UGRR bike route southbound. I spent some time learning about the site’s significant history.

According to the educational panels at the site, fugitive enslaved people from the United States settled as far north as Owen Sound, protected under the British Emancipation Act of 1833, which guaranteed the right of all people living in Britain and its colonies to live free forever.

Black History Cairn, a memorial to the Black settlers of Owen Sound, stood right next to the Sydenham River. Each piece of the cairn reflects a particular aspect of the Underground Railroad and stories of those associated with it. The church represents faith that sustained people in times of need and crisis. Ruins reflect the changing status of the first Black pioneers who tore down the oppressive walls of slavery and began building a new life and a new home in Canada. Broken shackles in the cairn symbolize the chain of oppression and tyranny the black people faced in slavery, laying bare the terror of the past and the joy of freedom.

Quilt squares on the ground showed how each quilt pattern was a coded message to find freedom.  According to the educational panel, these quilts hung over railings or on clotheslines. The patterns could be mixed in a sampler quilt, containing numerous messages, or hold a repeated pattern to share clear directions. Some of the most common patterns include the North Star, a sign directing people to use the North Star as a compass point and follow it north to Canada and freedom. Flying Geese symbolized both geese and the escaping enslaved people. The viewer used these arrows to learn which direction to go next. Often the geese pointed directly north to freedom. Enslaved people knew geese flew north in the spring and south in the fall. A sailboat indicated that a large body of water lay ahead and needed to be crossed; a log cabin with a dark or yellow central square indicated a safe house where the fugitive could rest, etc.

I read that the cairns as a whole call for quiet meditation and reflection on the experiences of brave pioneers. I sat on the bench near the apple trees, listening to the soft sound of flowing water from the Sydenham River. I imagined the long journey of enslaved people and those who supported their journey north, and the overwhelming joy they must have felt when they made it to Canada. It was a life-changing moment to be free, to live a life that no longer belongs to anyone. You can be yourself- something that I take for granted.

I heard a flock of Canada geese fly by. I opened my eyes and looked up. There they were, in a perfect V-shaped formation, heading south. They were giving me a cue to start my 2,000-mile southbound journey, I thought. I thanked those who came before me for demanding justice, bowed to the cairn, prayed for all beings to be at ease, and began my ride to Mobile, Alabama.

I’ll be tracing back the Underground Railroad southbound with a hope to learn more as we commemorate the 100th anniversary of Black History Month. I hope you come along with me and learn together about this important history and its impact on us today as American people.

Here we go again!