The Underground Railroad in Ridgefield: A Hidden Piece of Black History Revealed

Join the Ridgfield Historical Association at The Meeting House in Ridgebury, as Ridgefield Town Historian Jack Sanders will be joined by Ira Joe Fisher for a conversation centered around Sanders’ book, Uncle Ned’s Mountain, Three centuries of African Americans — free and enslaved — in a small New England town. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing at the program. The Black History Month event is presented by the Ridgefield Historical Society and The Meetinghouse in Ridgebury and is part of both organizations’ commemoration of the 250th anniversary of America in 2026.

Several years ago, Mr. Sanders discovered and wrote about the existence of a station on the Underground Railroad that had been quietly maintained by Ned and Betsy Armstrong, who were well-known in the Ridgebury community. As free Blacks raising their family in a small compound off what is now called Ned’s Mountain Road, the Armstrongs risked the harsh penalties of the Fugitive Slave Acts to provide a temporary haven for those who were fleeing southern enslavement.

Ira Joe Fisher, an acclaimed broadcaster and Ridgefield Poet Laureate, is a lively interlocutor, as he and Mr. Sanders demonstrated in their last Ridgefield Historical Society program together, a discussion of Mr. Sanders’ book, Here Lyes Ye Body, in October at Lounsbury House.

The Saturday, Feb. 21, conversation (snow date Feb. 28) will take place at 2 p.m. at The Meetinghouse (Ridgebury Congregational Church, 605 Ridgebury Road), a short distance north of where the Armstrongs once lived and a short distance south of where they are buried in Ridgebury Cemetery. The hour-long program will touch on many other aspects of the lives of Black Americans in Ridgefield, from the earliest days of the town to present day.

Books will be available for purchase and signing.