Bucktown Village Store

The fully restored Bucktown Village Store is a preserved general store from 1835, which now serves as a historical site on the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway. The Bucktown Village Store is where Harriet Tubman was almost killed due to a head injury. This incident followed her for the rest of her life. The Bucktown Village Store is open now for tours as a museum.

The 19th-century Bucktown Village Store was once a store in a small farmland community near the shipyards at the Transquaking River. One day, Harriet Tubman was sent to the Bucktown Village Store by a farmer with the farm’s cook to buy items for the house. When Tubman and the cook arrived at the store, a slave was there having left without permission. This slave’s overseer followed him to the store and commanded Tubman to tie him up. Tubman refused and the slave broke free and ran away.

The overseer threw a two-pound weight and threw it at the slave. This weight ended up hitting Tubman in the head. This injury almost killed her. The hit cracked her skull and caused her trauma for the rest of her life. Tubman suffered from epilepsy for the rest of her life. A few days later, she was sent back to work with no medical attention ever reaching her. This was Harriet Tubman’s first stand against her oppressors and slave owners.

The Bucktown Village Store displays a collection of artifacts from the Underground Railroad and the life of Harriet Tubman. It is operated by the Bucktown Village Foundation. The village store is open for tours six days a week. It is one of 36 sites along the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway self-guided driving tour. The tour is 125 miles along Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway features sites that include exhibits, artifacts and preserved locations of Tubman’s life and the Underground Railroad. The Bucktown Village Store shares the artifacts that Harriet Tubman once interacted with and the location that changed her life forever.

1. Bucktown Village Store. Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway. . Accessed August 31, 2018. http://harriettubmanbyway.org/bucktown-village-store/.

2. Endangered Maryland Update: Bucktown Village Store. Preservation Maryland. February 16, 2007. Accessed August 31, 2018. http://www.preservationmaryland.org/update-bucktown-village-store/.

3. "Buckstown Village Store, 1975." Preservation Maryland, Maryland Historical Trust, http://www.preservationmaryland.org/update-bucktown-village-store/.

4. Welcome to the Bucktown General Store. Bucktown General Store. . Accessed August 31, 2018. https://bucktownstore.com/. 

5. About the Byway. The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway. . Accessed August 31, 2018. http://harriettubmanbyway.org/the-byway/.

6. Bucktown Village Store. Atlas Obscura. . Accessed August 31, 2018. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bucktown-village-store. 

7. "Bucktown Store Exterior." National Park Service, National Park Service, November 18,2016, https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/view.htm?id=241DABF2-1DD8-B71B-0BED869428FEAD99. 

8. "Inside the Bucktown Store." National Park Service, National Park Service, February 26, 2013, https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/view.htm?id=C8C5D0D1-155D-451F-67C4348C729F0FED.