Page 89 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL MAGAZINE 2020 SPRING EDITION INTERACTIVE

“If you could make it to Salem, Indiana, your

chances of freedom were exponentially better.”

opposed to slavery, said Jerry Finn of
the Horseshoe Foundation, a private
foundation that is helping to restore
this historic church.

Its steeple was that beacon to freedom
in the 1850s. In 1852, the church was
integrated, which allowed its secret role
in the Underground Railroad to go un-
noticed by neighbors who were used
to seeing black people enter. “This
church was a primary oasis in hostile
territory,” said Finn.

Members of the congregation at that
time were town fathers and railroad
executives. When New Albany installed
gas lines in 1852, tunnels were con-
structed, including one from this church
to a hotel across the street operated by
a church member.

“Unless you were a member of this
congregation, you were probably pro-
slavery at that time,” said Finn. But the
church’s members helped many slaves
escape from here. “If you could make
it to Salem, Indiana, your chances of
freedom were exponentially better.”

This church was designated a National
Park Service Network to Freedom site
in 2017.

Also in New Albany, we toured the
Culbertson Mansion, a 25-room,
20,000-square-foot Second-Empire-
style home built in 1867 to William Cul-
bertson, a self-made railroad and utility The Culbertson Mansion, a 25-room,
20,000-square-foot Second-Empire-style
investor who started as a dry-goods home built in 1867
clerk. When he died in 1892, he was
the richest man in Indiana. His home is
especially notable for the original and

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