This simple cabin, erected by free African American farmer James Webb, was typical of the dwellings of poor, Black (and white) families within the region during the early to mid-nineteenth century. Built of hand-hewn logs resting on a stone foundation, the cabin consists of a single room with an open-hearth brick fire-place, a loft accessed by a ladder, and a root cellar or “potato hole.” Webb lived here with his father, enslaved wife Mary Ann, and their two children. As the only surviving cabin built by a free Black person in the area, it was purchased and restored by the Caroline County Historical Society. It opened in 2016 as an interpretative museum site along the Harriett Tubman Underground Railroad Byway.
JAMES WEBB CABIN
c. 1852; 2016 restored. 23459 Grove Rd.