CAMBRIDGE, MD – On Saturday, March 9, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis will join Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and other state and local officials for a celebration of the life and legacy of Maryland native Harriet Tubman on the centennial of her death.
The event will include a groundbreaking for the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park Visitor Center and a ribbon cutting for the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway.
The Maryland Park Service's new Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park will commemorate Harriet Tubman, the Underground Railroad's most famous conductor, in the landscape of marshes, woodlands and fields that are reminiscent of the backdrop for her early life on the Eastern Shore.
The park's 17 acres will be physically and thematically linked to the Department of the Interior's Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge through programming, multi-use trails and roads. The park will also provide an orientation to Tubman and Underground Railroad heritage sites and programs within the county and region, many of which are part of the National Park Service's Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.
WHO:
Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior
Martin O'Malley, Governor of Maryland
Jon Jarvis, Director of the National Park Service
Victory Jackson-Stanley, Mayor of Cambridge
Patricia Ross-Tubman, descendant of Harriet Tubman
WHAT:
Centennial celebration of Harriet Tubman, including groundbreaking for the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park Visitor Center and ribbon cutting for the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Scenic Byway.
WHEN:
Saturday, March 9, 2013, 10 am EST;
media availability immediately following
WHERE:
Parking and shuttle service from Cambridge-South Dorchester High School (2475 Cambridge Beltway, Cambridge, MD 21613
MEDIA:
Media interested in covering the event must obtain credentials from Camila Clark, Maryland Office of Tourism at cclark@visitmaryland.org or 410-767-6298. The event will be videotaped and available at a future date on the Maryland Office of Tourism Development's website.
Source: Department of Interior
