Hubbard House Ugrr Museum

Located in historic Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio, Hubbard House overlooks the south shore of Lake Erie and is an easy one-hour drive from Cleveland and Youngstown, Ohio, and Erie, Pennsylvania.  The home is an excellent example of life in the Connecticut Western Reserve in the middle third of the 19th century. All furnishings are authentic to the period. The ballroom on the second floor contains Underground Railroad information. There are also Civil War artifacts and other antiques in the new addition. Only weeks after arriving in Ashtabula, William Hubbard became a member of the Ashtabula County Anti-Slavery Society. His brothers Matthew and Henry, who had arrived earlier and made homes for themselves in this part of the county, were already heavily involved in the Abolitionist movement, both having helped to found the Ashtabula Sentinel, an Abolitionist newspaper. It may never be possible to know how many slaves William's family helped on to Canada, as no written account has been located to date. However, it is known from an eyewitness account, that, at one time, there were thirty-nine slaves in hiding, as the gentleman stated "thirty-nine slaves made short work of a barrel of pickles." Other observers made note of the fact that fugitive slaves arrived day and night, looking for William and Catharine's assistance and protection.