Vestal Coffin Commemoration Day Events

As part of the ongoing observance of the bicentennial of the UGRR in Guilford County, a day of commemoration for Vestal Coffin, the First “Conductor” on the Underground R.R. in Guilford County, will be held on October 10, Coffin’s birth and death date (1792-1826). Activity schedule (all free and open to the public): 9:30 a.m. “Origins of the Underground R.R.: African Americans, Native Americans, and Quakers,” Arwin Smallwood, Chair of the History and Political Science Department at N.C. A&T State University. ACB Bldg. on the A&T campus. / 12 noon “The case of Benjamin Benson, a free black” kidnapped and eventually freed through the court system, aided by Vestal Coffin and other New Garden Quakers,” with Jeff Thigpen, Register of Deeds at the Benjamin Benson marker on February 1 Plaza, downtown Greensboro. / 3 p.m. Walk to the “Underground R.R. Tree” in the Guilford College woods. Meet at the trailhead on Nathan Hunt Rd. just past the college lake. / 4:30 p.m. Tour of the New Garden Friends graveyard, including the graves of Vestal and Alethea Coffin. Led by Max L. Carter. 801 New Garden Rd., Greensboro. For information, send an email to Max Carter or call 336-292-7316.