The Levi and Catharine Coffin State Historic Site is located in Fountain City (formerly Newport), Indiana. It is a brick Federal-style eight-room house that was an important stop on the Underground Railroad. The Levi Coffin house is one of Indiana’s most prominent Underground Railroad locations, around 2,000 total runaway enslaved persons found sanctuary and nourishment at this site alone [1].
The Coffin house was built in 1839 and was home to the Coffin family until they moved to Cincinnati in 1847 [2]. During those eight years the Coffin house provided refuge and sanctuary for many different lives. One significant guest to find shelter in the Coffin house was Eliza Harris, of Uncle Tom’s Cabin fame. She had taken her baby and fled her captors by perilously crossing the frozen Ohio River. Making it safely, she was moved from station to station along the Underground Railroad, eventually arriving at the Coffin house. There she was sheltered and fed for several days before being sent on to the next station with several others, eventually making it to Canada [3].
It was not always as simple as moving a fugitive from one station to the next. The Coffin household often had to be prepared to hide and take action against slave hunters, especially since the house was known to be a depot on the Underground Railroad. In one such instance, two girls had fled Tennessee and were living with their free grandparents in Randolph County, Indiana. When their former enslaver came looking for them they were forced to flee further along the Underground Railroad, making it to the Coffin house. With the slave hunters following behind, Mrs. Coffin hid the girls in between the straw and hay linings of the beds. Additionally, the Coffins had a plan to ring a dinner bell if the slave hunters illegally entered their house, at which time neighbors would rush in and force the slave hunters out of the house and have them arrested for unlawful entry. Thankfully in this case that was unnecessary, for the reputation of the Coffin house and the unity of the community caused the slave hunters to leave [4].
Many individuals who came to the Coffin house by way of the Underground Railroad were employed by the Coffin family. Since the community was supportive of the Coffin house’s role as a station, the Coffins did not have to fear and allowed the former enslaved persons to work and be seen in public. One such individual was Rachel, referred to as Aunt Rachel in Levi Coffin’s Reminiscences [5]. Aunt Rachel fled Mississippi in chains and managed to make it north along the Underground Railroad. When she reached the Coffin house she was employed by the family as a housekeeper for roughly six months. When slave hunters came to Richmond, Indiana, Rachel became nervous, and the Coffins arranged for her safe passage to Canada [6].
The Coffin house is one of only a few places in Indiana that is a proven stop on the Underground Railroad in the nineteenth century and is registered as a historic landmark [7]. It still stands today as a beacon of hope and freedom, and a symbol for the power that a united community can have over the intolerant cruelty of wicked men.
The Levi and Catharine Coffin House is now a State Historic Site, and the building has been converted into a museum. Guided tours are available Tuesday - Sunday from 10 AM - 5 PM. For more information, visit the
official website.