CONTENTS
  INFORMATION
 

For more information on this project please contact the following individuals.

Project Director:
Cassandra Newby Alexander
757.823.8828

Web Director:
Jeffrey L. Littlejohn
936.294.4438

You may find more information on the Underground Railroad at the National Park Service website:
National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.

 

 

 
  Historical Maps  
 
     
Overview of the Underground Railroad, Showing Portsmouth, Virginia
full size

This map is a modern production. It shows some of the principle routes taken by enslaved African Americans as they left the slave South for the free North. Reproduced here from the Microsoft encyclopedia at encarta.com [ link ]
 
     

Portsmouth, Virginia, 1823
small (129K) | medium (573k) | large (1.6 mb)

This map was created by Goode Downing in October, 1976, and it was revised in March, 1980. Based on J.A. Foreman's written account of Portsmouth in 1890, this map shows an approximate location of key buildings and waterways in Portsmouth in 1823.

 
     

"Bird's Eye View of Portsmouth, Virginia," 1891?
small | large | church | link

This map was drawn by Augustus Koch, who served as a clerk, draughtsman, and later as an officer in the Union Army during the Civil War. After the fighting, Koch began making Bird's Eye lithographs of cities in the United States. [ link ].

 
     

Bird's Eye View of Norfolk & Portsmouth, Virginia 1873
small | large | link

Drawn and published by C. N. Drie, 1873. This map shows Emanuel A.M.E. church and its proximity to the inlet near North and Green Streets. It also gives an excellent overview of the downtown Portsmouth area.