Feb 11
A dresser in the Merchant's House Museum, built in 1832, has been discovered as a secret link to the Underground Railroad — the first of its kind discovered in Manhattan in over 100 years.
NY1 received an exclusive first look at the concealed passage, which runs from the second floor down to a pantry hideaway in the basement. The passageway had been known for about four decades, but its purpose was unknown to historians.
Museum researchers recently discovered that the builder of the Merchant’s House, Joseph Brewster, was a passionate abolitionist who built false floors in integrated abolitionist churches and created this route in his own home to aid freedom seekers.
