As Black History month draws to a close today, Pastor Darlyn (Dar) Rath of Faith Lutheran Church Port Elgin, shared a story of Negro Creek, a community near Owen Sound, where black families settled during the time of the ‘Underground Railroad’.
The ‘Underground Railroad’ was neither a railroad nor underground. It was however, an escape route for black slaves coming from the deep South of America toward the freedom that they believed Canada offered.
While Owen Sound was the final ‘stop’ for the ‘railroad’, some families chose to stop at a place now known as ‘Negro Creek’, and that still bears the name today. Despite attempts to remove the name, the local Black community and descendants have insisted on keeping the name as a part of the community’s history.
Pastor Dar, an avid quilter, met a black nurse some 13 years who was treating the Pastor’s husband Merle in hospital, and together the two women forged a friendship over their interest in quilting.
Learning of the ‘Underground Railroad’ and its stories, Pastor Dar began to create a quilt, with each square representing a symbol of the trek of how the slaves would come to Canada.
From following Canada geese heading north to bear tracks into the woods to the North star, they were symbols that kept the slaves moving ever northward to a boat on Lake Erie that would take them across to Canada and freedom.
One of the squares indicates a place of warmth, a fire and place of safety. What Pastor Dar learned was that, at each of the places along the ‘Underground Railroad’ where there was safety, a quilt would be left for those coming behind so that they knew it was a safe place.
“One day, when I was pastor at Williamsford Lutheran Church, near Owen Sound, two young men came in to a Sunday service,” says Pastor Dar. “Both were unknown, one was black and the other with a mop of curly hair, Ben Heywood-MacLeod, a university student who was doing research on the families of Negro Creek with the intention of creating a documentary.”
The community of Negro Creek began in 1842, and at its peak, there were more than 50 families, many of whom lived there for generations and whose descendants are still there.
An interpretive plaque sign to mark the historical Negro Creek settlement off Hwy. #6 in the Williamsford area, is anticipated to be erected to share the story of the settlement of Negro Creek.
