Imagine standing in a dark marsh at night.

The wind moves through the reeds. Somewhere in the distance, an owl calls. The ground beneath your feet is damp. The sky is wide and moonlit. You don’t know what tomorrow holds — only that turning back is not an option.

This is the landscape that shaped Harriet Tubman.

March is Harriet Tubman Month in Dorchester County — the place where she was born around March 1822 and where she returned again and again to lead others to freedom. It is also the month she passed from this world (March 10, 1913), leaving behind a legacy that continues to grow more powerful with each generation.

In 2026, we invite you not just to learn about Harriet Tubman — but to step into her world.

A Museum Transformed: Experience the Story in a New Way

After months of renovation following unexpected damage, the Harriet Tubman Museum & Educational Center in Cambridge will softly reopen on March 28 — and visitors will encounter something entirely new.

What was once a small, simple museum has been reimagined as an immersive journey.

Murals now stretch across walls, floors, and ceilings. Carefully designed lighting evokes the tension and uncertainty of nighttime journeys through the marsh. Video installations bring voices and stories to life. Sound effects deepen the atmosphere, inviting you to imagine what it might have felt like to prepare for an escape under cover of darkness.

The story itself has not changed — but the way we experience it has.

For those who have visited before, this is a reason to return. For those who have not yet made the trip, 2026 is the perfect time.

Mark Your Calendar: Meaningful March Events

Harriet Tubman Month is more than reflection — it is celebration, education, and community.

Harriet Tubman Day

March 7, 10am–4pm
Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park & Visitor Center
Church Creek, Maryland

Celebrate Harriet Tubman Day at the state park built in the heart of the landscape she once knew. Educational programming throughout the day explores archaeology, architecture, music, and nature — and how each connects to Tubman’s life. Families can enjoy traditional children’s games and hands-on activities, making this a meaningful experience for all ages.

Standing at the Visitor Center — surrounded by open skies, marshes, and waterways — history feels close.

Harriet Tubman Awards Banquet

March 14

While details are forthcoming, this annual banquet honors individuals who embody Tubman’s legacy of courage, leadership, and service. It is a powerful reminder that her spirit of perseverance and advocacy lives on today.

Soft Reopening of the Harriet Tubman Museum

March 28
Cambridge, Maryland

Be among the first to experience the museum’s newly transformed interior and immersive storytelling environment.

Walk the Ground That Trained a Hero

Long before she became known as “Moses,” Harriet Tubman learned the woods, waterways, and wildlife of Dorchester County on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The vast marshlands, dense forests, and quiet back roads were not just scenery — they were her classroom.

She understood how to move silently through wetlands. She knew which routes offered cover. She famously used the call of a Barred Owl to signal when it was safe for freedom seekers to emerge from hiding.

Today, those same birds still inhabit Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. The same horizon stretches wide over the marsh. The same rivers wind through the land.

The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway traces 125 miles through Maryland, Delaware, and into Pennsylvania, connecting more than 45 significant sites along the path to freedom. But it begins here — in the county where her strength was forged.

Visit the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park & Visitor Center for an essential introduction to her life and the broader story of the Underground Railroad. Stop by the Bucktown General Store, site of her first recorded act of defiance. Stand before the “Beacon of Hope” sculpture at the Dorchester County Courthouse — once the site of slave auctions. Explore murals and public art throughout Cambridge that continue to honor her legacy.

You can explore for a few hours, a full day, or an entire weekend. Each stop adds another layer to the story.

A County of Remarkable Women

It feels especially fitting that Harriet Tubman Month falls during Women’s History Month.

While Tubman’s legacy stands at the forefront, she is not the only extraordinary woman connected to Dorchester County. Sharpshooter Annie Oakley once called the area home. Anna Ella Carroll, a key advisor to President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, also had deep ties to this region.

In downtown Cambridge, the Dorchester Women’s Mural celebrates a dozen women — past and present — whose lives have shaped our community in meaningful ways.

This small, rural county has produced women of remarkable courage, intellect, and influence. Harriet Tubman simply shines the brightest among them.

Why March Matters

There is something powerful about experiencing Harriet Tubman’s story in the very place where it unfolded.

Here, the landscape is not a backdrop — it is a participant in the story. The marsh is not symbolic — it is real. The distance between towns is not abstract — you can drive it, walk it, feel it.

In March, as winter begins to loosen its grip and the marsh slowly awakens, Dorchester County pauses to remember a woman who refused to accept the limits placed upon her — and who returned, again and again, to lead others toward freedom.

Take a few hours — or an entire weekend — to encounter the life and legacy of Harriet Tubman in the place she called home.

Because some stories are best understood where they began — in the landscape that shaped them.

Plan Your Harriet Tubman Road Trip

Ready to experience Tubman’s world for yourself?

The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway stretches 125 miles through Maryland’s Eastern Shore, into Delaware, and up to Philadelphia — connecting more than 45 significant sites along the path to freedom.

Begin your journey in Dorchester County, where Tubman was born and where her courage was forged. Then follow the route northward, exploring historic towns, waterways, and landscapes that still echo with her story.

Visit HarrietTubmanByway.org to download the free byway map and guide and to access the excellent audio tour. The audio guide brings each stop to life with narration, history, and context — turning a simple drive into a meaningful, self-paced experience.

Take a day. Take a weekend. Bring your family. Bring a friend.

Some journeys change the way you see history.
This is one of them.