University Times

A new Pittsburgh-Erie spur has added 152 miles to the 2,058-mile Underground Railroad bicycle route completed last year by the Montana-based Adventure Cycling Association in conjunction with Pitt’s Center for Minority Health (CMH).

The bicycle route highlights sites of historic significance and is designed to encourage active lifestyles as a culturally relevant way to promote minority health. (See April 19, 2007, University Times.)

The center and Adventure Cycling began partnering on the development of the Underground Railroad route four years ago. CMH’s goal was to find ways to generate interest in biking as a form of exercise — first, to get people moving, then to keep them interested in the activity.

The spur begins at the Sen. John Heinz History Center and features Underground Railroad sites, historic markers and museums as it winds through Ellwood City, New Castle, Mercer, Cochranton and Meadville on its way to meet the Underground Railroad route in Erie.

The larger route stretches from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Huron. It begins at Mobile Bay, where slave ships arrived, and winds through eight states and into Canada, terminating at Owen Sound, Ontario — the destination for many escapees who settled nearby. The bicycle route was mapped as a representation of the journey to freedom, emphasizing areas of historic significance along the way. No single route existed but portions of the route trace the river valleys often used by slaves as they headed north. Numerous historic sites offer information on the Underground Railroad and the abolitionist movement.

Mario Browne of CMH said he wanted Pittsburgh to be included in some way in the route, noting that CMH capitalized on its local connections with history buffs and cyclists to assist Adventure Cycling in developing the spur.

The route development goes hand in hand with the center’s involvement with the Pittsburgh Major Taylor Cycling Club, which aims to bring new participants to cycling. Browne said few members come to the club with tour riding experience but interest is growing. Regular local rides are helping spark members’ participation in longer rides, including overnight trips or even longer tours, Browne said. “This spur could be a facilitator,” he said.

Most of the spur route is on rural roads that parallel Routes 19 and 79, with only a small portion on rail trails or designated bike lanes, said Bruce Woods, vice president of the Pittsburgh Major Taylor Cycling Club.

Woods and his college-aged son contributed by checking out a prototype route by car to confirm that the roads along the proposed route were bike-friendly and mapping the locations of hospitals, campgrounds, food and bike repair shops. They also charted the mileage between points to make the spur route map as accurate for riders as possible.

The spur, the Underground Railroad route’s first, is not expected to be its last, according to Adventure Cycling Association’s Ginny Sullivan. Research on a second spur, perhaps from Ohio to Michigan, will begin next year. Route information is available at www.adventurecycling.org.

Woods noted that the spur crosses the Ohio River six times and the Allegheny River once before it leaves the Pittsburgh area. Among his favorite sites on the route is John Brown’s tannery near Meadville. Now a museum, the famed abolitionist’s tannery once was a way station for escaped slaves.

The Major Taylor club is planning a ride on the spur sometime next spring or fall, Woods said. Details will be posted at www.cmh.pitt.edu/cycling.asp.

The club also is leading a six-mile bike tour of Underground Railroad sites in Downtown and on the North Side July 6 in conjunction with the annual BikeFest celebration facilitated by the nonprofit Bike Pittsburgh organization. The club’s tour includes two stops from the spur route: the Monongahela House and the site of Avery College.

The Monongahela House, once a Downtown hotel, now is home to the Allegheny County Department of Human Services. Hotel employees occasionally helped slaves who were traveling with their masters escape. Avery College, founded in the mid-1800s by abolitionist Charles Avery, was a vocational school open to blacks. A plaque on the North Side site commemorates its location at Nash and Avery streets. Information on the ride is available at http://bike-pgh.org/events/bikefest/.

—Kimberly K. Barlow