New York’s newly identified Underground Railroad passage is under threat

NEW YORK (AP) — A newly identified Underground Railroad passageway once used by enslaved people fleeing to freedom is putting the spotlight on a New York City museum and its struggle against a proposed neighboring development.

Staff at the Merchant’s House Museum — an upper crust family home built in 1832 in Manhattan’s NoHo district — last month revealed that researchers can now explain the passageway’s historical purpose because they recently discovered that the home’s original owner was an abolitionist.