Place

Site of The Holmes Alley House

An alley on the right with a brick building on the left with a black door.
Holmes Alley, the location of Isabella Holmes' home.

NPS Photo/Pollock

Quick Facts
Location:
Holmes Alley
Significance:
Site of the Underground Railroad
OPEN TO PUBLIC:
No
MANAGED BY:
Private Residence

Like her father Reverend Samuel Snowden, Isabella Holmes assisted fugitives who came to Boston on the Underground Railroad. The Account Book of Francis Jackson, Treasurer The Vigilance Committee of Boston records her as boarding twelve fugitives in the early months following the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850. She lived here with her husband on Holmes Alley.1

Selection of the Account Book of the Vigilance Committee that lists several names under Isabella Holmes.

This Account Book lists Isabella Holmes assisting several freedom seekers in November 1850. (Credit: Dr. Irving H. Bartlett Collection, 1830-1880)

Footnotes

  1. Kathryn Grover and Janine V. Da Silva, "Historic Resource Study: Boston African American National Historic Site," Boston African American National Historic Site, (2002), 107.

Boston African American National Historic Site

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Last updated: January 8, 2023