The program of tours, as announced below, is a major step in bringing greater public awareness to the story of Yellow Hill and the Quaker Valley. The residents of this area were a vital part of that portion of the Underground Railroad that ran through Adams County, and recognition of their participation is highly welcome and long overdue.
HGAC kicks off tours of Yellow Hill Cemetery
Alisha
Sanders, of Cashtown portrays a runaway slave during a recent Yellow
Hill Cemetery tour for members of Historic Gettysburg Adams County, the
Gettysburg-area preservation organization who has been working to
preserve the Yellow Hill Cemetery in Butler Township. Sanders is the
great, great, great, great granddaughter of
Edward Mathews, who gave land
for a church and cemetery on Yellow Hill in the 1800’s. Mathews was
reputed to be an agent in the Underground Railroad working with nearby
Quakers to aid former slaves to freedom prior to the Civil War. Two
veterans of the United States Colored Troops were once buried at Yellow
Hill Cemetery.
Photos submitted by Debra McCauslin
The
tour was conducted by Curt Musselman, HGAC’s Preservation Committee Chairperson
and
Debra McCauslin who serves on the committee. The historic 1880’s Menallen Friends Meetinghouse was also opened for HGAC members and
McCauslin provided a program using Powerpoint software to give details
about the history of Yellow Hill and the Quaker Valley-area where the
Menallen Friends Meetinghouse stands. It is one of the few, active,
Quaker meetings still operating in the south-central Pennsylvania area.
Tours of Yellow Hill Cemetery and the Menallen Friends Meetinghouse are
available to the general public by contacting Debra McCauslin at
528-8553.