The Levi and Catharine Coffin House

 Welcome back to another anniversary trip post! Could I break up this trip any more than I already have?

I wanted to tell you about one of our final stops on our trip (and of course, by "one of," I actually mean the final stop). As I've said here before on the blog, I've learned that as I get older, I care more about history than I did as a kid. Touring a historic site would not have been on my radar years ago, but I was excited to plan this stop, and Ryan was excited about it too!

In case you don't know, several locations in Indiana were busy hubs on the Underground Railroad back in the day. We learned some about it during our trip to Madison a couple of years ago. Madison is a town right on the Ohio River, and that was a major stop. From there, they would travel north, up the east side of the state, and head into Michigan and over into Canada.

The Levi and Catharine Coffin House, located in Fountain City, Indiana (just outside of Richmond) was a stop on the Underground Railroad. We learned that Levi had first learned about slavery as a little boy when he lived in North Carolina. His family, along with many other peace-loving Quaker families, left North Carolina and settled in Indiana. Here, they were not only away from the slavery lifestyle, but they could help slaves find their way to freedom.

We learned that Levi was a business leader and local merchant and was fairly well-to-do. His position in the community and his wealth made it possible for him to assist many freedom-seekers (as they were called). 

Here is a picture of their home, which is BEAUTIFUL from all architectural standpoints. Levi and Catharine helped more than 1000 freedom-seekers on their way to Canada, and it is believed that all who passed through these walls did eventually reach freedom. In fact, this home became known as "The Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad."

Here are a few peeks at the inside, but if you're ever in the area, I can say that this is worth the admission price to tour in person! ($10 per person for adults.)

The photo above is a picture of the kitchen in the home, which is nice and big, but the tour guide pointed out that most of the freedom-seekers who came through arrived late at night. It would create suspicion to have lights on in the kitchen and the smell of food cooking at those hours, so one of the secrets of success was the "summer kitchen" the house has - located in the basement. She also told us that Fountain City got its name because of the water table levels. There is so much water that most homes don't (or at least didn't back then) have basements, because they would flood. Somehow, this house was able to have a basement and it stayed dry. They were able to prepare food in the basement without attracting attention!

Another key to success (and a rarity in that day) was an indoor well. Because they could retrieve water without going outside, no one knew how much water they went through when the house was full.

She told us one sign of the Coffins' obvious wealth was this double closet in the master bedroom - and each closet had two doors. She said back in those days, people were taxed on how many interior doors they had, so four extra doors in the bedroom was a big deal. (There was another closet like this one to the right of the fireplace.)

This little door led into a passageway where they could hide people if needed. (I did not go in there, though I could have peeked in. The roofline was slanted enough for me!

See what I mean about the roofline? Can you imagine waking up fast and slamming your head against that wall?

They also showed us the barn, where they parked wagons and buggies - and here is a picture of a wagon with a false bottom, used for transporting freedom-seekers.

It really was a fascinating house...and I'm so glad we went. (Also - I should put tour guide on my list of careers to explore someday. I really do think it would be a lot of fun. You know - once people can tour again.)

(Fun fact: we were the only people on our tour, so that worked out nicely!)