I know from other research that Elizabeth Buffin Chase of Cumberland / Valley Falls, RI, an ardent and well, publicized abolitionist and conductor on the Underground Railroad, had a very close friendship with Adin Ballou. Several of her boys attended Practical Christian School in Hopedale. Samuel May of Leicester, also a well connected abolitionist and his house was used as a stop on the UGRR, was very close to both Adin and Liz. So, there is a wide-spread connection between those ardent abolitionists and Hopedale is right in the middle. The UGRR ran on connections and the sites in the Blackstone Valley are connected in ways we are still trying to understand. Ranger Chuck Arning, The John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, One Depot Square, Woonsocket, RI 02895
What Chuck wrote in the paragraph above was a response to a question I asked him in December 2006. I was looking at evidence that escaped slaves had stayed in Hopedale, but there didn't seem to be anything to indicate that it was part of an established escape route. Rather, it seemed that the fugitives came here by special arrangement, as the case of Rosetta Hall mentioned by Adin Ballou, and not as part of a town to town route. I asked Chuck if homes such as the Thwing place in Hopedale would be considered as Underground Railroad houses (or "stations") or if there was some other designation. He said that they would be considered Underground Railroad, and that New England was something of a special case in that era. Rather than being moved on to the next station very quickly, if there was work for them and the area was considered to be safe, they might stay in one place for quite a while. Dan Malloy
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