{"id":3700,"slug":"perryville-railroad-ferry-and-station-site-perryville-maryland","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["The Perryville ferry is the dangerous crossing — the Susquehanna break in the Baltimore-Philadelphia line, the disembarkation that exposed the fugitives. The famous were the cargo — Douglass in the sailor's disguise, the Crafts in the bandages, Box Brown in the crate. The kidnapping was the other side — Rachel Parker taken by McCreary, the 'notorious kidnapper from Elkton.'","The ferry was the necessity — the 'Maryland' steamer that carried the cars, the bridge that didn't come until after the war. The station is the Amtrak — the Northeast Corridor that still runs, the '14 designation that marked the ground. Perryville is the railroad's bottleneck — the river that broke the line, the freedom that crossed on the ferry.","The file keeps Perryville: the ferry crossing, the famous escapes, the Parker kidnapping, and the railroad.","Perryville is the archive's Cecil file — the river's dangerous crossing."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Perryville is the archive's Cecil file — the Susquehanna ferry escape point.","A ferry keeps its passengers — the file's suggestion being that Perryville's hold is the exposure: the disembarkation that risked all, the disguises that passed, and the kidnapping that failed."]}],"name":"Perryville Railroad Ferry and Station Site","aliases":[],"type":"HISTORIC_SITE","type_label":"Historic Site","cats":["DARK_HISTORY","UNDERGROUND_RAILROAD_HISTORY","AFRICAN_AMERICAN_HISTORY","HISTORIC_SITE","MARITIME","RAILROAD","UNDERGROUND_RAILROAD"],"groups":["dark-history","historic-sites"],"desc":"The ferry—where the trains crossed the Susquehanna.","full_desc":"Perryville Railroad Ferry and Station Site is a historic site in Perryville, Maryland, an NPS Network to Freedom. The ferry—where the trains crossed the Susquehanna. It sits in the archive under Underground Railroad history, the Underground Railroad and African American history. The dossier holds 3 documented facts — the record is history-forward, no paranormal claims on file. The site is open to visitors.","address":null,"city":"Perryville","county":null,"state":"Maryland","postal":null,"region":"South","lat":39.572968,"lon":-76.064923,"coord_kind":"CITY","status":"ACTIVE","access":"PUBLIC","access_notes":null,"ownership":null,"website":null,"phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":"NPS Network to Freedom","current_use":"Historic site","research_notes":"UGRR enrichment wave 1; VERIFY task auto-queued.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":67.9,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.85,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":1,"paranormal_claim_provenance":null,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[],"history":[{"description":"NPS includes this site in the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Perryville Railroad Ferry and Station Site's past is on record — the entry belongs to the verified layer the museum itself interprets. The fact is historically verified — the part of the file that doesn't need hedging. The detail is preserved in 'Public NPS Network to Freedom listings, row 2, ID 01GA01'. The detail belongs to the verified spine of the entry.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Public NPS Network to Freedom listings, row 2, ID 01GA01","url":"https://www.nps.gov/common/uploads/sortable_dataset/undergroundrailroad/F0E29766-00A1-12E5-C3D062151C3F7E26/nri-NTFListings6426NOPIItable.csv?t=1784017173223","publisher":"National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}},{"description":"Perryville Railroad Ferry and Station Site is documented on the National Park Service Network to Freedom for its role in the Underground Railroad. Perryville Railroad Ferry and Station Site's past is on record — the entry belongs to the verified layer the museum itself interprets. The fact is historically verified — the part of the file that doesn't need hedging. The detail is preserved in 'NPS Network to Freedom listing'. It anchors the timeline the rest of the file hangs from.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"NPS Network to Freedom listing","url":"https://www.nps.gov/subjects/ugrr/index.htm","publisher":"National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}},{"description":"The ferry is documented. A documented site gives the file real substance; this entry is part of that record. The record holds it as fact — documented, not retold. The record appears in 'NPS Network to Freedom listing'. It is the kind of fact the rest of the dossier leans on. The file stays open on it.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"NPS Network to Freedom listing","url":"https://www.nps.gov/subjects/ugrr/index.htm","publisher":"National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}}],"legends":[],"entities":[],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Historic site; verify hours and access with the managing agency before visiting; check nps.gov for current hours and alerts.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-18 11:32:55","source":{"name":"HauntHunt generic access guidance","url":"https://haunthunt.com/about#access-guidance","publisher":"HauntHunt editorial","type":"DIRECTORY","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"Public NPS Network to Freedom listings, row 2, ID 01GA01","url":"https://www.nps.gov/common/uploads/sortable_dataset/undergroundrailroad/F0E29766-00A1-12E5-C3D062151C3F7E26/nri-NTFListings6426NOPIItable.csv?t=1784017173223","publisher":"National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1},{"name":"NPS Network to Freedom listing","url":"https://www.nps.gov/subjects/ugrr/index.htm","publisher":"National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1},{"name":"Underground Railroad","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_Railroad","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":0,"history":3,"legends":0,"entities":0,"sources":3}}