Harriet Tubman bought a 7-acre area of land in of 1859 in Auburn, New York. There was a barn and a farmhouse, where Harriet Tubman would move her family from St. Catharines, Canada, south to Auburn, New York. In 1880, a fire destroyed the original wood-frame house after a resident under Harriet’s care used a defective stovepipe as a chimney in their room. Harriet Tubman and her family constructed a new brick house in 1882 and lived in that building until her passing in 1913.
At the age of 74, Tubman purchased at auction a 25 acre parcel of land with numerous structures which abutted her residential property. Her hope was to establish the Tubman Home for Aged and Indigent Negroes to carry on her work, after she was gone, of caring for the old and poor in her community. When she was unable to raise funds necessary to open the facility, Tubman deeded the property to the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
The Harriet Tubman Home, Inc. Visitor center at 180 South Street is privately operated by the Harriet Tubman Home, Inc. The visitor center is open by appointment only. To schedule a tour, call the Harriet Tubman Home at (315) 252-2081.
Built in 1891, the Thompson Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion church represented a place of worship and a cornerstone of Auburn’s Black community. Harriet Tubman, a prominent member of this community, worshipped at this church alongside her family. The church became Tubman’s final resting place when she passed away in 1913. Registered as a National Historic Landmark in 1974, the church building was purchased by the National Park Service in 2017.
