The 1849 House of Two Escaped Slaves

The Dorsey–Jones House is a historic house located at 191 Nonotuck Street in the Florence area of Northampton, Massachusetts. Built in 1849, it is a 1+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure with a gabled roof and clapboarded exterior. The house follows an "upright and wing" plan, common for millworker housing in the area. It is an L-shaped structure with a prominent front-facing gable end and a single-story ell extending to the right with an open porch.

The house was built in 1849 for Basil Dorsey, an African American who escaped slavery in 1836 with abolitionist help. The lot was purchased from the Bensonville Manufacturing Company, the silk-making business of abolitionist George Benson. The Dorsey family lived in the house until 1852, when they moved to another house in Florence.

In 1854, the house was purchased by Mary Jones, the wife of Thomas H. Jones. Jones was another escaped slave and antislavery activist who worked as an itinerant preacher. The family moved from Florence to Worcester in 1859. The escapes from slavery by both Dorsey and Jones are well-documented in contemporary papers of abolitionists and Underground Railroad operatives.

The Dorsey–Jones House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. It remains a historic site associated with the Underground Railroad and abolitionist activity in Hampshire County.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons