Did white chimneys represent secret safe houses on the Underground Railroad? | The Curiosity Desk

[@GBHNews]

A bit of extra detail on what Rachel Hoyle at the Shirley-Eustis house told us regarding the white chimney: According to Hoyle, there is solid, written historical evidence that some chimneys were white thanks to that particular, moisture-preventing paint. As for the black trimming, there isn't the same kind of documentation, but Hoyle and other historians theorize that it was most likely simply aesthetic. She also said the idea that these white chimneys were connected to the Underground Railroad isn't the only myth they've been associated with. "Sometimes those types of white chimneys with the little black on the top are called loyalist chimneys,” she explained. “Because it was also thought that, in the 18th century, that that denoted a home where a loyalist lived." To be clear, that’s ‘loyal to England’ during the Revolutionary War-era. And it’s also almost certainly untrue.

[@pmclaughlin4111]

It would have been nice to include Massachusetts personal liberties laws(e.g. Latimer law), Boston Vigilance Society,.and the Abolition Riot of 1836 and Riot of 1854