- Burkle Estate
infobox Museum
name= The Burkle Estate
imagesize= 250px
established= 1997, built in 1849
location= 826 North Second StreetMemphis, Tennessee
visitors=
director=
website= The Burkle Estate is a historic home at 826 North Second Street inMemphis, Tennessee . It is also known as the Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum or the Slavehaven/Burkle Estate. The house was constructed in 1849 by a German immigrant by the name of Jacob Burkle and is believed to have served as a way station on theUnderground Railroad for runaway slaves.Publicly, Mr. Burkle was a livestock trader and a
baker . However, privately he was a "conductor" on the Underground Railroad.Cite web|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0126/p11s01-trgn.html?s=rsstr|title=This Train Traces the Route of Black Migration North|accessdate=2008-04-03|year=2005-01-26|author=Lorne Blumer|work=The Christian Science Monitor] Many believe his home was the last stop in a series of Memphis homes connected by underground tunnels. The house included a small cellar entered through a trap door where slaves apparently waited to escape. The cellar connected to a tunnel leading to the Mississippi River.Cite web|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/article412021.ece|title=Mississippi Learning|accessdate=2008-04-03|year=2005-01-23|work=The Sunday Times] Slaves could then get on boats to take them upriver to other way stations in the free states north of theOhio River .Although the role of the home as a part of the underground railroad is still subject to debate,Cite web|url=http://www.memphisflyer.com/backissues/issue419/cvr419.htm|title=The Persistence of Folklore|accessdate=2008-04-03|year=1997-02-27|author=James Busbee|work=The Memphis Flyer] the house opened as a museum in 1997 and tours of the one-story, white clapboard house are available. The house is decorated with 19th-century furnishings and artifacts and served as part of the overall
civil rights heritage of Memphis.Cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-90478335.html|title=In Memphis, a Crash Course on the Civil Rights Movement|accessdate=2008-04-03|year=2004-02-01|author=Ruth A. Hill|work=The Record] Cite web|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15134609/|title=African-American Heritage in Memphis|accessdate=2008-04-03|publisher=MSNBC|year=2006-10-09|work=Frommer's]References
ee also
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List of Underground Railroad sites
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