Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site

Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site

File:UncleTomsCabin.jpg Josiah Henson Interpretive Centre.
Established	1940
Location	Dresden, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates
Type	Open-air museum
Website	www.uncletomscabin.org

Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site is an open-air museum and African American history centre near Dresden, Ontario, Canada, that includes the home of Josiah Henson, a former slave, author, abolitionist, and minister, who, through his 1849 autobiography The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada, as Narrated by Himself, was the inspiration for Harriet Beecher Stowe's title character in her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. The 5-acre (20,000 m²) complex is part of the original 200 acres (0.81 km²) of land purchased in 1841 to establish the Dawn Settlement, a community for escaped slaves.

The original Henson cabin was located on a different location nearby and opened as a museum in the 1940s by an area farmer, William Chapple. The house was moved to the existing location in 1964 by J.D. Thomson, and subsequently was owned and operated by Kent County, Ontario and then the St. Clair Parkway Commission. Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site has been owned by the Ontario Heritage Trust since 2005.

Site facilities include:

• Josiah Henson House - Josiah Henson lived in the cabin during much of his time in the area, from 1841 until his death in 1883. Although the cabin has been moved more than once, it remained on the original Dawn Settlement lands. Opened as a museum in the 1940s, it was moved to its present location in 1964, and restored to an 1850 appearance in 1993–94.

• Josiah Henson Interpretive Centre - a visitor centre and museum with 19th-century books and artifacts related to abolition and Henson's life. The North Star Theater offers educational films.
• Underground Railroad Freedom Gallery - features the geographic journey and history of enslaved people in the United States, from the path from Africa through slavery in the United States, and on to freedom in British North America. The gallery also includes exhibits about the life and times of Josiah Henson.
• Outbuildings: a sawmill, smokehouse, and an 1850 pioneer church—including the pulpit from the original church from which Rev. J. Henson preached in Dresden
• Harris House - one of the oldest houses in the area, and one of several final stops on the Underground Railroad
• Henson Family Cemetery - adjacent to the church, the cemetery includes a Josiah Henson memorial stone and National Historic Plaque. Across the road is the burial ground for the Dawn Settlement and the British-American Institute, a school started by Josiah Henson.
• A gift shop

The Museum is affiliated with: CMA, CHIN, and Virtual Museum of Canada.

Other Pictures

• Uncle Tom's Church - Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site.jpg

  1850 pioneer church

• Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site 01.JPG

  Josiah Henson House

• Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site - Josiah Henson's Grave.JPG

  Josiah Henson's Grave

• Uncle Tom's Plaque.jpg

  Josiah Henson's Grave Plaque

• Henson NHS 2.jpg

  The Henson Family Cemetery. A plaque, placed by the Government of Canada, (detail depicted above) is seen immediately to the left of the headstone]

• Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site - British American Cemetry.JPG

  British American Cemetery

• Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site - The Dawn Settlement.JPG

  The Dawn Settlement Plaque

External links

• Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site, near Dresden, Ontario
• National Historic Person plaque, and cemetery photo near Dresden, Ontario
• www.civilwar.org