Gettysburg, PA - July 11, 2007 - There's something new to do while visiting Gettysburg - Underground Railroad Tours of Adams County are underway. The new tour, created and guided by Debra McCauslin, allows visitors to get acquainted with those who sought freedom and those who fought for it.  Portions of tour proceeds from the tour are donated to historic preservation.

 The tour showcases several people who were involved in the Underground Railroad in Adams County including Gettysburg's Bazil Biggs, Bendersville's Edward Mathews, the founder of the Yellow Hill Settlement and Menallen Township's Cyrus Griest, a Quaker who aided Kitty Payne and her children during their 1845 kidnapping from their Bendersville home. The Quakers who lived near Bendersville were related to and worked with William and Phebe Wright who aided over 1,000 freedom seekers in their York Springs' home.

 "The Underground Railroad was a contributing cause of the Civil War and two million visitors come to Gettysburg each year to see the affects of its largest battle. Maybe we could help those visitors understand a cause of the war by talking about the freedom seekers and freedom fighters that once walked on this land prior to that war seeking a free life away from the horrors of slavery," states tour creator and tour guided Debra McCauslin. Stops on the tour include the Yellow Hill Cemetery where a pre-Civil War African American community existed and the Menallen Friends Meetinghouse and cemetery where Quakers still have meetings for worship today. Both were named to the National Park Service's National Network to Freedom in 2006 for their involvement in the Underground Railroad.

 Historic Gettysburg Adams County, a member-supported preservation organization assisted Deb McCauslin by crafting an access agreement with a Butler Township landowner to allow foot traffic over private property to see the Yellow Hill Cemetery. The Yellow Hill Cemetery is not open to the public and access is allowed only with a pre-scheduled and pre-approved tour under McCauslin's guidance.

 McCauslin is a lifelong Adams County resident and is related to George Washington Sandoe, the first soldier killed at Gettysburg who died near McAllister's Mill which was reputed to be a station on the Underground Railroad. McCauslin is a member of Toastmasters International and she teaches at Harrisburg Area Community College. She has spoken to groups and organizations throughout Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Ohio, and Virginia. The author of Reconstructing the Past Puzzle
of a Lost Community at Yellow Hill, Deb donates book sale proceeds, tour proceeds and speaking fees to several local preservation organizations.

Debra McCauslin will conduct both tours upon request. Please state which tour you desire. Both of the tours are about two and a half hours in duration.  

Echoes of the Past: African American Voices in Gettysburg takes place in Gettysburg. The tour includes the Soldiers National Cemetery where President Lincoln spoke over the graves of many White soldiers and only two members of the US Colored Troops. You'll see the site of Frederick Douglass' 1869 lecture, where Francis Scott Key came to manumit his 45 year old slave named Clem Johnson, where Daniel A. Payne was educated at the Lutheran Theological Seminary and much more.

The Underground Railroad Tours of Adams County Tour takes place in the Quaker Valley which is 10 minutes from Gettysburg. This tour includes visits to the historic Yellow Hill Cemetery and the 1880s Menallen Friends Meetinghouse which sits north of Gettysburg in the pristine Quaker Valley in the heart of the Northern Adams Fruit Belt. Folks who comprised the African American community on Yellow Hill worked with nearby Quakers at Menallen Friends Meeting to aid runaway slaves to freedom prior to the Civil War. Suzette Varner portrays a runaway slave during the tours.

The cost for each tour is $15 per adult and $5 for all students and portions of proceeds are donated to local preservation projects. Funds have been used to preserve the Yellow Hill Cemetery which is the site where two veterans of the United States Colored Troops were once buried.  The tours are conducted by Debra McCauslin who wrote a book called Yellow Hill: Reconstructing the Past Puzzle of Lost Community. The book is available on Amazon.com by searching on "Yellow Hill."  Tours can also be arranged for individuals, famiies or groups by calling Deb at 717-528-8553 or via email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . You can also visit this website to contact Deb and learn more: www.gettyburghistories.com

Alisha Sanders, of Cashtown portrays a runaway slave during a recent Yellow Hill Cemetery tour for members of Historic Gettysburg Adams County, the Gettysburg-area preservation organization who has been working to preserve the Yellow Hill Cemetery in Butler Township.

BY JOHN MESSEDER
Gettysburg Times Staff Writer
Monday - October 16, 2006

Three historic Adams County sites have been added to the National Park
Service Network To Freedom, a program to draw recognition to the role of the Underground Railroad.