James H. Webb Log Cabin
Off Route 16 on Grove Road, 2 miles on left, Preston
James H. Webb, a free African-American farmer, built this hand-hewn log home around 1852 and lived here with his enslaved wife, their four children, and Webb’s father. The family were members of nearby Mount Pleasant Church. The one-room home, with its “potato hole,” open fireplace, and loft accessed by a crude ladder, was built of materials found nearby. It sits on its original ballast-stone foundation from ships that plied the Chesapeake Bay.
The Webb Cabin is one of more than 30 sites on the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway, a self-guided driving tour that takes you to the places Harriet Tubman lived, worshiped, worked, and led others out of slavery.
