Gettysburg National Military Park, Gettysburg Freedom to Create Change Pennsylvania’s story is also one of defiance and determination — of people who transformed suffering into activism and built movements that reshaped the nation. While the New World offered refuge to many escaping persecution, it was a place of unimaginable suffering for the African men, women, and children who were kidnapped, enslaved, and brought to what would become the United States. Slavery remains one of America’s darkest chapters, but those who refused to accept the cruelty of bondage — in Pennsylvania and beyond — helped transform the state into the beacon of activism it is today. Among them was David Myers, an abolitionist who risked his life for enslaved people seeking freedom along the Underground Railroad. With the help of his wife, Myers transformed his home into a vital safehouse within a broader network of resistance in western central Pennsylvania. The property is now a stop on the self-guided Indiana County Underground Railroad Driving Tour , which also includes the site of the former AME Zion Church , a historically significant African American church, and Samuel McCune Safehouse , another sanctuary house for those fleeing toward freedom. Drop by the Blairsville Underground Railroad History Center , a small museum offering insight into the lives of enslaved people and their allies. Many other historical sites shine the spotlight on the pursuit of emancipation. In 2025, Wrightsville’s historic Mifflin Farm , an Underground Railroad site and Civil War battlefield, opened to visitors for the first time in over 200 years. Visitors also can schedule a tour of the LeMonyne House in Washington, where successful physician Francis Julius LeMoyne aided freedom seekers traveling north to Canada. You can also check out the "Underground Railroad: A Journey to Freedom" exhibit at the Bellefonte Art Museum in Bellefonte, which honors the borough’s role in the freedom-fighting network. Or step onto the hallowed ground of Gettysburg National Military Park , site of the Civil War’s bloodiest and most pivotal battle. It was here that the tide of the war began to turn — and where President Abraham Lincoln later delivered his powerful Gettysburg Address, reaffirming the nation’s founding ideals: that it was “conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” 40 visitpa.com DESTINATION GETTYSBURG
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Travel Guide 2026: Page 40
