The Underground Railroad Passed Through Mt. Zoar

In the northwestern corner of Cecil County, just two miles south of the Mason-Dixon Line, stands Mount Zoar, a free African American community established in the mid-19th century.  At its peak, the village contained about a dozen homes, a church, a school, and a cemetery. For generations, it thrived as a place of resilience, faith, and determination.1

Mt. Zoar School No. 5 on Feb. 21, 2017.

Although much of the hamlet has vanished, its legacy endures. The Mount Zoar AME Church, built around 1870 to replace an earlier house of worship established before 1859, remains a cornerstone of the community. Nearby stands a unique 19th-century two-room schoolhouse featuring a projected entrance and bell tower that once called children to class.2  The Maryland Historical Trust describes it as “one of the more unusual of its type in the entire county.”3  Together with a few remaining homes, these landmarks preserve the memory of this community.

Underground Railroad

Mount Zoar’s geography made it more than just a home for free Black families.  Its location, close to the Susquehanna River and the Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal, positioned it along a recognized route of the Underground Railroad.

In 1859, two years before the Civil War erupted, the Cecil Whig openly acknowledged the community’s role, reporting that “through this region passes the mysterious underground railway, which carries to the north so many fugitives from labor. Here is a stopping place for those noiseless invisible trains; here is Zoar, the city of refuge to those who flee . . . ” The editor also cited the area’s “dense population” of free African Americans, noting that their presence created a vital link for the “noiseless invisible trains” carrying freedom seekers toward liberty.4

That a correspondent from the 8th district wrote this, and the editor printed it, is remarkable. In a border state like Maryland, public acknowledgement of an Underground Railroad connection was dangerous, especially as national tensions over slavery neared a breaking point. It suggests that Mt. Zoar’s role in aiding freedom seekers was well known locally,

mt. zoar on underground railroad
The U.S. Geological Survey of 1900 shows the Mt. Zoar community. The Survey incorrectly listed it as Mt. Zion. Later editions of the map corrected the listing.

Among Mount Zoar’s most influential residents was John Berry, who purchased a substantial parcel of property before 1860. The Cecil Whig highlighted his extraordinary success, noting his accumulation of 75 acres of “good land” through his own labor—a remarkable accomplishment for a Black man in that era.5 Despite the tensions of the times, Berry not only secured property but also helped establish the community’s school and supported other local initiatives, leaving a lasting legacy that shaped Mount Zoar’s future.6

Today, the church, schoolhouse, and cemetery stand as reminders of a community that did more than survive; it flourished, while also playing a quiet yet critical role in one of the most pivotal struggles in American history. Mount Zoar’s story — the Underground Railroad and the free Black community — deserves deeper research, but even in the traces that remain, we see the resilience of a people who built lives of dignity and strength.

Notes

  1. Mt. Zoar Black Community, Maryland Historical Trust Inventory Form CE-875, Dec. 11, 1978 ↩︎
  2. New Colored School House, Cecil Whig, Dec. 17, 1870 ↩︎
  3. Mt. Zoar School No. 5., Maryland Historical Trust Inventory Form CE-876, Sept. 21, 1978 ↩︎
  4. Eighth District, Mt. Zoar and its Inhabitants, March 26, 1859. ↩︎
  5. “Local Affairs,” Cecil Whig, March 2, 1878. ↩︎
  6. “Death of an Estimable Colored Man,” Cecil Whig, July 26, 1879. John Berry, 66, died on June 25, 1879. He was born in 1813 ↩︎

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