Page 88 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL MAGAZINE 2020 SPRING EDITION INTERACTIVE

In this charming, historically preserved
Top: Downtown New Albany. Its revitalization began about five
years ago, followed by neighboring Jeffersonville’s.
Below: Part of the exhibit about the Underground Railroad at
the Carnegie Center in New Albany.
88 WDT MAGAZINE SPRING 2017
town that was once a center for steam-
boat production and the largest city
in Indiana in the mid-19th century, we
found the Carnegie Center for Art & His-
tory (www.carnegiecenter.org).
One of its permanent exhibits is “Or-
dinary People, Extraordinary Courage:
Men and Women of the Underground
Railroad.” Perusing actual newspaper
accounts — which were horrifying —
and artifacts, including enormous iron
shackles that once bound slaves, as
well as photographs of the real people
in this story, we entered a small room to
interact with a 90-minute film. The video
could be viewed in short segments or
watched in its entirety.
This multi-media presentation uses
actors to bring to life real people “whose
selfless acts of courage helped fugi-
tive slaves find hope and freedom.” We
follow Jacob, a slave, who walked for
three years from here to reach Canada.
“At the heart of the exhibit are the actual
New Albany residents — black and
white, young and old, rich and poor —
who were able to accomplish so much
in the face of such great risk.”
We learned that it was a misconception
that once escapees crossed the Ohio
into Indiana, they were free. “It’s not
true,” Sally Newkirk, Carnegie direc-
tor, told us. “It was still very dangerous
for them. Even free (blacks) could be
kidnapped and taken across the river to
Louisville to be sold — in three hours,
they’d be gone.”
BEACON TO FREEDOM
New Albany’s Second Presbyterian
Church, also called the Second Baptist
Church and the Town Clock Church
(www.townclockchurch.org), was built
around 1850. Its members were very