All aboard for the Peter Mott House Museum's first Underground Railroad camp

LAWNSIDE - If you are looking for a summer camp for the kiddos that provides summer fun and learning look no further. The Lawnside Historical Society will bring history to life in a free Underground Railroad youth day camp at the Peter Mott House Underground Railroad Museum.

The Underground Railroad youth camp will take place June 27 to July 1 from 10 a.m. to noon. The camp is open to students who will be in the fifth through seventh grade in the fall. Jacqueline Miller Bentley, a Society board member, veteran educator, and administrator is coordinating the camp.

“I hope students will gain an understanding of how this clandestine network of abolitionists — some of whom were formerly enslaved — risked their lives to help freedom seekers escape bondage in the 1800s," Bentley said in a news release.

Campers will explore the unique history of Lawnside, the activities of Peter Mott – preacher, abolitionist and UGRR conductor – and opponents of slavery.

"After talking to the members of society and Linda Shockley, our president, we all agreed that this should be fun, It should be not like school. It should be more upbeat, and fun. So a part of the goal is to design some activities where kids would have hands on input, and do things that would give them an opportunity to participate through a more hands on approach to the activities," said Bentley. "But make no mistake, the goal is really about to have young people understand what happened during slavery and for them to walk away knowing more about the Underground Railroad than they probably learned in their everyday classrooms."

More: Did you know South Jersey had dozens of stops on the Underground Railroad?

Over the course of the weeklong camp, students will visit different historical sites in Camden and Lawnside such as three slave blocks where enslaved people were bought and sold.

"We're not going to whitewash the history, but we're not going to make anybody feel bad or feel guilty. The last thing that I want to do is to make anybody feel guilty about anything, that would be absurd. But history is history and African American history is American history," Bentley said.

The camp will take place mostly outdoors and will also include a tour inside the Peter Mott House Museum. While exploring the artifacts in the museum students will learn about the lives of prominent Black figures of South Jersey such as Peter Mott and William Still as well as abolitionist Quakers.

The camp is funded by a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities from the National Endowment for the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan Act. The Society is also supported by the Camden County Cultural and Heritage Commission, the officially designated county history agency of the New Jersey Historical Commission.

The deadline to apply has been extended to May 20. To fill out an application form for up to three children visit https://www.petermotthouse.org/blog/underground-railroad-camp-2022/. To keep up with upcoming events and when the Peter Mott house will reopen visit their website at www.petermotthouse.org.

This article originally appeared on Burlington County Times: Underground Railroad summer youth camp comes to South Jersey