Did you know that Memphis was a stop on the Underground Railroad?

In the mid-nineteenth century, Memphis was the center of the cotton trade in the United States, which also means it was a center for the slave trade. 

Today, an unassuming white clapboard house downtown serves as a reminder of the cruelty of this institution, but also of the power of the human spirit to stand up against that cruelty.

In 1849 German immigrant Jacob Burkle built a home and a stockyard on a plot in downtown Memphis. The Burkle Estate was a convenient place for herdsmen to keep their cattle, but history says that Burkle also opened his home to provide shelter and a hiding place for people who were escaping slavery via the Underground Railroad. 

From 1855 until the abolition of slavery, Burkle operated this stop on the network of safe houses and routes for those making their way to the northern states and Canada. In 1997 the home and surrounding land was converted into the Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum. This museum might be overlooked for top-ten lists, but it represents an important period of Memphis history.