Lawnside Underground Railroad Summer Camp Offers Arts Activities

As the only African American incorporated municipality above the Mason-Dixon Line, Lawnside, N.J., was a haven to escaping people of African descent since colonial times.

The Lawnside Historical Society’s 2024 Summer Camp will operate from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday, June 24 to Friday, June 28, 2024 at Grace Temple Baptist Church, 15 E. Charleston Ave., Lawnside. In addition to a focus on the Peter Mott House Underground Railroad Museum, campers will visit other UGRR sites and learn about the lives of freedom seekers using visual, performing and folk arts.

This third summer Underground Railroad Camp is made possible by funding from the Camden County Cultural and Heritage Commission, a partner of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Students who will be in sixth through eighth grade are invited to apply. The application deadline is June 1 and can be completed online at www.petermotthouse.org/blog/.

Programs like the UGRR Camp empower residents to defend preservation of the town and appreciate its unique place in the history of New Jersey. Jacqueline Miller-Bentley and E. Muneerah Higgs, retired educators, are co-directors of the camp.

This enrichment program will impress young minds with the courage and resiliency of freedom seekers and abolitionists that helped navigate the Underground Railroad. Campers will also learn Lawnside’s unique history of – the first Black town incorporated in the northeast.

Activities, tours and trips will engross sixth- to eighth-grade students focused on the Peter Mott House using the visual arts, performance and language skills.

The program is made possible by funding from the Camden County Cultural and Heritage Commission, a partner of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.