by Nancy Spies
(Portions of this article are taken from The New Jersey Sampler by local historian, John T. Cunningham)

It was the strangest of all railroads. It had no tracks, no cars, no advertised stations. It published no timetables, kept no records, and asked no questions. Passengers were completely at its mercy, for that was the price of using the Underground Railroad.

Fleeing slaves flocked to the Underground Railroad between 1820 and the start of the Civil War. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of them crossed New Jersey on the road, following the North Star to a promised land.

"Main lines ran northward from border states with as many as a dozen routes crossing New Jersey. Often the fugitives were carried in wagons driven rapidly over the rough roads of upper Morris and Passaic Counties, the routes selected on spur of the moment decisions."

Mendham folklore tells of secret passages and tunnels used to harbor fleeing slaves in their escape to freedom. "Today little remains to prove that there ever was an Underground Railroad in New Jersey." A covered-over tunnel entrance in the rear yard of the Aaron Hudson house was reputed to have been a "station" with a tunnel stretching further West to a home on Route 24.

"Here and there, a dark corner in the cellar of an old house may be thought to have been a "station" as well, there is no absolute proof. Secrecy demanded a minimum of certainty. That confounded enemies --- and probably gave the line its name."