Part of Underground Railroad found in closet of New York City museum

"NEW YORK -- A hidden chapter of history that was quietly waiting in plain sight has just been uncovered in New York City, concealed behind a second-floor dresser at the Merchant's House Museum. Historians believe a hidden area in a closet wall at the Merchant House Museum in the East Village of Manhattan was part of the Underground Railroad. "Yes. These are built in drawers from 1832," said Emily Hill-Wright, Director of Operations."

"The Underground Railroad was a secret pathway to freedom for enslaved people escaping north, through woods, tunnels, private homes, under floorboards, inside churches and even hidden beneath wagons. Directions on where to go next were always kept quiet, whispered, sewn into quilts or embedded in songs. A concealed space, where a formerly enslaved person, running for his or her life, could hide. A place that evokes fear but also hope."

"The secret compartment sits beneath the bottom drawer of a closet between two bedrooms in a house built in 1832 by an abolitionist named Joseph Brewster. "This passage is extremely hidden. Where, behind these built-ins and there is no domestic purpose for a passage like this," Hill-Wright said. The home, now the nearly 200-year-old Merchant's House Museum, has long known that the unusual crawl space was original to the house."

A concealed compartment was uncovered behind a second-floor dresser at the Merchant's House Museum in Manhattan. The compartment sits beneath the bottom drawer of a closet between two bedrooms in an 1832 house built by Joseph Brewster. The space matches known features of Underground Railroad hiding places used by enslaved people escaping north through woods, tunnels, private homes, floorboards, churches and wagons. Escape directions were communicated quietly through whispers, quilts and songs. The museum long knew the crawl space was original, and confirmation of Brewster's abolitionist ties strengthens the compartment's identification as part of the Underground Railroad.

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