{"id":3663,"slug":"port-tobacco-courthouse-port-tobacco-maryland","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Port Tobacco is the tried insurrection — the 1845 Wheeler and Caesar trial, the forty-to-seventy who armed for freedom. The escape was the mass — the flight toward Rockville, the capture that stopped most. The jail was the held — the '60 building for the fugitives, Wheeler's escape after the commutation.","The courthouse is the reconstructed — the '92 fire that took the center, the replica that stands now. The town was the port — the tobacco that was rolled to the ships, the 40% enslaved in the county. Port Tobacco is the seat's decline — the railroad that went to La Plata, the courthouse that kept the trial's memory.","The file keeps Port Tobacco: the 1845 trial, the mass escape, the jail, and the reconstructed courthouse.","Port Tobacco is the archive's Charles County file — the insurrection's courthouse."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Port Tobacco is the archive's Charles County file — the armed freedom trial.","A courthouse keeps its case — the file's suggestion being that Port Tobacco's hold is the trial: the mass escape that was prosecuted, the jail that couldn't hold Wheeler, and the seat that faded."]}],"name":"Port Tobacco Courthouse","aliases":[],"type":"HISTORIC_SITE","type_label":"Historic Site","cats":["DARK_HISTORY","UNDERGROUND_RAILROAD_HISTORY","AFRICAN_AMERICAN_HISTORY","HISTORIC_SITE","UNDERGROUND_RAILROAD","LEGAL"],"groups":["dark-history","historic-sites"],"desc":"The 1819 courthouse—where the county’s slaves were sold.","full_desc":"A historic site in Port Tobacco, Maryland, an NPS Network to Freedom, Port Tobacco Courthouse is filed here for what the record attaches to it. The 1819 courthouse—where the county’s slaves were sold. The archive files it under Underground Railroad history, the Underground Railroad and African American history. The dossier holds 3 documented facts — a documented spine with no haunting reports attached. The site is open to visitors.","address":null,"city":"Port Tobacco","county":null,"state":"Maryland","postal":null,"region":"South","lat":38.512292,"lon":-77.020487,"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. A documented site gives the file real substance; this entry is part of that record. The record holds it as fact — documented, not retold. Sources including 'Public NPS Network to Freedom listings, row 2, ID 01GA01' carry the record. Documented ground is what separates this file from pure legend — this is part of it.","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":"Port Tobacco Courthouse is documented on the National Park Service Network to Freedom for its role in the Underground Railroad. Port Tobacco Courthouse's past is on record — the entry belongs to the verified layer the museum itself interprets. It's verified history: the dossier's load-bearing detail. The record appears in 'NPS Network to Freedom listing'. The detail belongs to the verified spine of the entry.","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 1819 courthouse is documented. Port Tobacco Courthouse's past is on record — the entry belongs to the verified layer the museum itself interprets. The record holds it as fact — documented, not retold. The record appears in 'NPS Network to Freedom listing'. Documented ground is what separates this file from pure legend — this is part of 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}}