The Underground Railroad in Berkley? Local historian says maybe

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http://www.tauntongazette.com/article/20140323/NEWS/140328329/1994/NEWS



Kenneth E. Amaral, a Berkley historian, speaks about the Underground Railroad and its possible connections to the town at Boondocks restaurant on Sunday afternoon.

The Underground Railroad in Berkley? Local historian says maybe

The Boondocks restaurant in Berkley was packed late Sunday afternoon with about 90 people eager to learn more about the town’s potential connection to the Underground Railroad, the 19th-century network of secret routes and safe houses used to escape slavery.

While there is no evidence that definitively links Berkley to the Underground Railroad, town resident and amateur historian Kenneth E. Amaral told the crowd that he believes that two sites in the community have characteristics that are very similar to verified “stations” on the network. Amaral pointed to the Padelford Street burial tunnel and the Burt House on Berkley Street as sites that may have been part of the Underground Railroad, according to his hypothesis.

“There seems to be similar characteristics in Berkley that are found in other places, such as the tunnel,” Amaral said. “It’s twin confirmed to be used by the Underground Railroad is in New Jersey. It was documented that a lot of similar tunnels that I’m showing today were used at safe houses. But the whole characteristic of safe house is hard to get verified because the penalty for having safe houses was death. The penalty for teaching a slave to read or write was death. So it was pretty difficult to keep historical information on safe houses.”

Before the meeting began at 4 p.m., the Boondocks was a loud diner in the full swing of business. But once Amaral began it was quiet as a library. The event was organized by the nonprofit Berkley Historical Society.