Brewer nears fund goal for anti-slavery monument

BREWER -Leaders in the effort to commemorate Maine’s role in the anti-slavery movement gathered at a small park Thursday to celebrate a boost in their effort to erect a statue over a shaft purportedly used by slaves en route to freedom in Canada.

Donations of $2,500 from Verizon Telephone Co. and $10,000 from the Brewer Centennial Committee announced Tuesday brought supporters of the proposed “North to Freedom” statue within $15,000 of their $35,000 goal, according to Dick Campbell and Brian Higgins, co-chairmen of Chamberlain Freedom Park in Brewer.

The $20,000 raised so far is enough to have the statue cast and brought to Brewer, said Higgins, a founder of the Maine Underground Railroad Association, a subcommittee of the Brewer Historical Society of which he is vice president.

Plans for the statue, by Houlton sculptors Glenn and Diane Hines, call for a slightly larger than life depiction of a runaway slave, looking back toward the south and leaning to the north as he hoists himself out of an underground tunnel to freedom.

Campbell, a former state representative now running for Congress, said the statue will be the only one in the nation dedicated to all of those who traveled to freedom on the Underground Railroad, to the abolitionist movement and to Maine’s role in the Underground Railroad.

Once the $15,000 balance is raised, the co-chairmen said, the statue will be erected in the park, on top of the stone-lined vertical shaft found in 1996 after the Holyoke House was torn down as part of the Penobscot River Bridge reconstruction project.

Though not documented, oral tradition passed down by generations of local residents has it that the Holyoke House, once occupied by wealthy abolitionist John Holyoke and also known as the Christmas House, was one of the stations of the Underground Railroad.

While state history authorities have said they believe the shaft more likely was a well or some other domestic structure, Campbell and Higgins are among those who argue that it would have been illogical to dig a well in a mound of marine clay. They also note that when the house was torn down, a “slave-style shirt” was found tucked in the eaves of an attic room.

“This is history. We are bringing our history alive. It has been dead,” said Gerald E. Talbot of Portland, a well-known civil rights leader and the first African-American to become a member of the Maine Legislature. Talbot and John Jenkins, former Lewiston mayor and the first African-American member of the state Senate, were special guests at Thursday’s celebration.

Jenkins said that now that the final push for funds is on, he will be visiting area schools and municipal officials to enlist support.

The statue marks the third development phase at the park, which includes a two-thirds scale version of Little Round Top, and a bronze statue of Col. Joshua Chamberlain, the Brewer native who commanded the 20th Maine Regiment at the Gettysburg, Pa., battle often credited with turning the tide of the Civil War.

The Underground Railroad was the secret means by which African-Americans escaped slavery in the South. As the runaway slaves fled northward to freedom, they were aided by other African-Americans, American Indians and others. The escape route consisted of a network of waterways, tunnels and land routes for travel at night, with houses and barns to hide in during the day.

Tens of thousands of slaves reached freedom this way, primarily from the 1840s through the 1860s.

The Holyoke House is believed to be one of an estimated 130 possible Underground Railroad stations in Maine.

Contributions should be sent to the North to Freedom Statue Committee at 880 North Main St., Brewer 04412. For information, contact Higgins at 478-5021 or visit a Web site at http://www.maineshistory.com/murra.html.