MPT Digital Studios Details Discovery Of Tubman’s Childhood Home

Maryland Public Television (MPT), in collaboration with the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration (MDOT SHA), has produced a follow-up segment in the multi-part video series Maryland Underground about the search for the 19th-century cabin of Harriet Tubman’s father, Ben Ross, in Dorchester County, Maryland.

Created by MPT Digital Studios and award-winning producer Amy Oden, the new six-minute video titled Maryland Underground: Ben's 10 Part 2, is available for viewing on the MPT website at mpt.org/digitalstudios/mdunderground/.

SHA Chief Archaeologist Dr. Julie Schablitsky announced in April that her team had located the cabin of Ben Ross. In 2020, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had acquired this former logging property and incorporated it into the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. Representatives soon reached out to the MDOT SHA about trying to locate the cabin, which was believed to be on the land. After a fall 2020 search through more than 1,000 test pits, only one location looked promising. This spring archaeologists returned and unearthed the rest of the story.

The promising site was located close to the water. Ross had worked inspecting timber -- which was often sent up the Blackwater River and canal to Baltimore shipyards -- until he left the area via the Underground Railroad. In the marshlands, the excavation team found what it was looking for -- bricks, nails, personal artifacts, and domestic artifacts such as broken dishes and medicine bottles dating back to the time Ross lived there.

“The artifacts, the archeology, the evidence of a building, and just the location … those multiple lines of evidence tell us, unequivocally, that this is the home of Ben Ross,” explained Dr. Schablitsky at the time of the announcement.

The MPT Digital Studios segment features an interview with Ernestine Wyatt, a descendant of Harriet Tubman (her great, great, great-grandniece) and Ben Ross, talking about what this discovery means to her and her family. The segment also includes comments by Dr. Schablitsky about the process that led to the evidence confirming the discovery and shows both her team digging in the area for artifacts and footage of lab work as artifacts found at the site were cleaned and cataloged.

The historic site of Ben Ross’s cabin will eventually be opened to the public. Archaeologists are hoping to return to the site to look for more artifacts later this year.

MPT Digital Studios has produced nearly 150 stories on a wide variety of topics since its creation in 2015. Its library of free web-exclusive content is available for viewing at mpt.org/digitalstudios/.