In Lewis, RAGBRAI riders see a 'really cool piece of history' at Underground Railroad stop

LEWIS — Victoria Boyd was at the bottom of a steep hill in Lewis, a pass-through town on Day 2 of RAGBRAI , when she had to make a decision: Keep going to the town, population 361, and join the party or take a detour to visit one of the only surviving Underground Railroad stations in Iowa.

Boyd, 45, was a long way from her hometown Las Vegas — and in that moment, from where she stood, a long way from the Hitchcock House. She hopped off her bicycle and snapped a quick photo of the sign displaying the site's name that towered over the sprawling grassy fields surrounding her. She joked with a friend and fellow cyclist and almost backed out at the sight of the rocky road that laid ahead.

But she trekked forward, her bike beside her.

"Iowa is beautiful," she said, looking up at the sight of a seemingly endless blue sky.

Boyd, who is riding in her fifth RAGBRAI, was among dozens who took a brief detour early Monday afternoon to see the historic home that was more than a mile away from Lewis' downtown center.

Built in 1856 by the Rev. George Hitchcock, the Congressional minister established the home for three reasons, said Mary Hoegh, who later gave Boyd and many others a tour inside. She said Hitchcock, who initially welcomed "Freedom Seekers" into his log cabin, decided to build the house that still sits atop a hill overlooking the town to provide enslaved people shelter and protection.

The cabin, Hoegh said, could no longer hold his growing family and he needed more space for his congregation.

Located at 63788 567th Lane, the house is a National Historic Landmark and on the Register of National Historic Places, as well as the National Park Service Network to Freedom. It was among the destinations on last year's inaugural Iowa Underground Railroad Ride , a two-and-a-half day trip to Lewis from Tabor, another site of a surviving station in southwest Iowa.

State historians say Fremont and Mills counties were places where most of the Underground Railroad activity in Iowa occurred. The counties, they explained, were a draw for enslaved people fleeing western Missouri. Southeastern Iowa also was a stop for enslaved Americans from northeastern Missouri traveling to the Mississippi River and Illinois.

Those nuggets of history were enough for Malcolm native Farren Johnson to climb that same rocky hill as Boyd.

"Iowa history is really cool," said Johnson, 35, who is doing her third year of RAGBRAI. "You don't always know a lot (about) why people came (here), and I just think it's really cool that we have a place here that was part of the Underground Railroad."

Growing up just 40 minutes from Lewis, Johnson said she never heard about the Hitchcock House.

"I didn't even know this was a thing. So as an adult, finding that and going to see that is really cool," said Johnson, who was riding RAGBRAI by herself and exploring the state's unique spots. "That's just, I don't know, just a really cool piece of history."

F. Amanda Tugade covers social justice issues for the Des Moines Register. Email her at ftugade@dmreg.com or follow her on Twitter @writefelissa .

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: In Lewis, RAGBRAI riders see a 'really cool piece of history' at Underground Railroad stop