St. Joseph River Valley   --                                              Sites and Projects

Also for Northern Indiana Freedom Trail

For freedom seekers and the UGRR

on the Chicago to Detroit Freedom Trail

Larry McClellan – 10/25/2023

This is an intial, beginnings list !!

Little Calumet River UGRR Project

Supported by Indiana Landmarks

Black Heritage Preservation Grant

& Calumet Heritage Partnership

Research on specific sites and projects in St. Joseph River Valley

(Over time, sites & topics will be added and dropped)

(Projects could include some of the work for a site)

Specific projects:

            Develop general historic marker/interpretive site:

                        (Somewhere – the Chicago to Detroit Road story)

                        (Somewhere – Freedom Seekers in the St.  

                           Joseph River Valley)

For the Chicago to Detroit Freedom Trail: 

            Initial guidebooks and detailed maps

Final Guidebook and Maps

Phone apps   and   Interactive website

                          Collecting freedom seeker stories

            Plan for a Northern Indiana Freedom Trail extending

                           from the CDFT to Fremont

            In and from Ft. Wayne – freedom seeker journeys and

                           UGRR sites from  Ft. Wayne north

La Porte County

Michigan City –         Train depot – 2 Railroad lines

                                                 Harper family  and   Elias Taylor home

            SE of Michigan City –          Low farm and cemetery

Bigelow’s Mills –  Bigelows

La Porte -                  Dr. Teegarden  +      Potentials –

                                          McCaskey,King & Downing

NE of La Porte -       Banks settlement

St. Joseph County

South Bend –            1847 Powell Family Legal Case

                                    Bulla home

                                    Bartlett home

                                                Af Am History Exhibit - Northern                                                                     Indiana Center for History

Cass County, Michigan

            Cassopolis                Best route for CDFT thru Cass County

                                                Connect with County UGRR tour

                                                Chain Lake Baptist Church/cemetery

                                                Brownsville School

                                                Cassopolis mural -  1847 raid

                                                Bogue and Bonine sites

                                                Others to be specified

            Vandalia                    Shepard home site

Historic marker/ documentation         

            Sauk Trail Route     signage, historic marker

On planning for the Northern Indiana Freedom Trail:

Elkhart County

            Goshen/Bristol –      Samuel Judson home and Trial

                                                            of Slave Catchers – 1847

                                               Homes/home sites for:

                                                Abner Blue

                                                Jesse Adams

                                                B. F. Cathcart

                                                William Martin

                                                C. L. Murray

                                                Owen Coffin

            Goshen -                    Elkhart River site

            {A lynching in Elkhart County}

La Grange County

            Benjamin Waterhouse home

            Stutley Whitford home

Steuben County

            Angola –                    home sites

                                                Sojourner Truth

            Fremont –                  Erastus Farnham home

Lake Gage                 George Brown home

            Orland –                     Captain Barry’s home

                                                First Congregational Church

                                                Other home sites

            Salem Township       Daniel Butler home

      Contact the Little Calumet River Underground Railroad

                      Project through their Facebook page.

      Tom Shepherd            tomshepherd2001@yahoo.com

      Larry McClellan        mcclellan.larry@gmail.com

      Brother Sage Gillam  providingoptions@yahoo.com