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WILLIAMS HOUSE
& CARRIAGE HOUSE, 127 Main St.
Austin Williams, leader of the Farmington abolitionists, donated land for a dormitory for the African men and the boy, Kale. The building on the left as you face uphill from the road, this later held the Williams family horse and carriage. The Africans lived in the section nearest the road. Austin and Jennette Williams's place was an Underground Railroad stop. In the rear of the carriage house, a trap door leads to a windowless basement where fugitives could easily hide. One fugitive who came to the Williams family was Henry Davis. Escaped from slavery in Virginia, he is believed to have gone home again to help others escape - at the risk of losing his own freedom. He survived, and returned to Farmington to live on the Williams place as a farmer and farm manager for 70 years. After the Civil War, Austin Williams headed a local branch of the Freedmen's Bureau, which sought jobs for emancipated former slaves.
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