Activities during the week leading up to Underground Railroad Days include a UGRR film festival at Cass District Library on Monday 6/18 6pm and Thursday 6/20 6pm; a special event at the UGRR "Safe House" at SMC Museum in Dowagiac on Tuesday afternoon 6/19, a "Kid's Day at the Bonine House" on Wednesday afternoon 6/20; and a Bonine House benefit performance by noted playwright Dr. Von Washington Jr .and Fran Washington on Friday evening, June 22
For more information about the car show, or to rent sale or food booth space, contact Vandalia Village President Beverly Young at 269-476-2344. For information or to participate in URSCC activities, email info@urscc.org or call 269-445-7358
Underground Railroad Days
CLICK HERE to read more about Dr. Von Washington and Fran Washington.
UGRR Days Kick-Off!
Benefit for the Bonine House
Friday, June 22 7:30 pm -- Ross Beatty High School
Dr. Von Washington and Fran Washington kick off Underground Railroad Days 2012 with a dramatic reading of his play, "Seven Stops To Freedom" If you saw Von and Fran at UGRR Days 2011, you know this thrilling journey to freedom on the Underground Railroad--a journey of seven stops from Mississippi to Cass County Michigan-- is a performance not to be missed.
Lois Cross-Hart, newly appointed Poet Laureate of Cass County, will introduce the evening with her poem "Cass County Brave", written especially for Underground Railroad Days.
Join us for a reception after the performance.
Tickets-- $10 Students-- $5 (Available online or at the door)
Press Release 3/15/2012
The Village of Vandalia, MI will hold its 3rd annual "Underground Railroad Days" on Saturday June 23 (10am-7pm) and Sunday June 24 (11am to 5pm) in Vandalia to celebrate the history of the area and its role as an important stop on the Underground Railroad.
A classic car show, arts and crafts booths, community yard sale, bake sale, and local food vendors create a festival atmosphere, fun for the whole family.
The Underground Railroad Society of Cass County (URSCC) anchors the history side of the celebration in Milo Barnes Park in Vandalia. There will be information booths about various aspects of the Underground Railroad and related topics. Tour busses will operate throughout both days showcasing several UGRR sites up and down M60 into Cassopolis. The Bonine House, home of Quaker abolitionist James E. Bonine at M60 and Penn Road, will be open for visitors throughout the celebration. Vandalia Village Hall will host several lectures and presentations on both Saturday and Sunday.
3rd Annual Underground Railroad Days a Success!
Press Release 6/26/2012
Vandalia, MI -- For the third year in a row, hundreds of local residents as well as out-of-town visitors congregated in Vandalia on Saturday and Sunday, June 23 and 24 to learn about the Underground Railroad in Cass County Michigan. They boarded vans to tour sites up and down M60 while learning the story of The Kentucky Raid of 1847. They strolled around and through the Bonine House at Penn Rd. and M60 built by abolitionist James E. Bonine, a stationmaster on the Underground Railroad, currently being renovated by the Underground Railroad Society of Cass County (URSCC).
They attended standing room only lectures and presentations about early African American pioneers in Cass County, Harriet Tubman, and Cass County's role in the Underground Railroad. They attended the Village of Vandalia's classic car show, shopped several arts and crafts booths, ate some local barbeque, and sang with local choirs in a Sunday morning community church service.
On Friday night, June 22nd they gathered at Ross Beatty High School to hear Cass County Poet Laureate, Lois Cross-Hart, read her poem "Cass County Brave" written especially for UGRR Days; and to hear Dr. Von and Fran Washington read and act their thrilling play "Seven Stops to Freedom" to a rousing standing ovation.
UGRR Days lead-in week also featured a UGRR film festival at the Cass County District Library and a fun "Kids Day at the Bonine House."
Vandalia's Underground Railroad Days
Set for June 23-24
Underground Railroad Society
of Cass County, Michigan
urscc.org