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Visitors to the Romulus Pumpkin
Festival this year can take a step back
in time and see an important part of
the history of the community, thanks to
theRomulusHistorical Society.
Members of the group have planned
children's games and entertainment
along with tours of the historic
Kingsley House in conjunction with
the festival this year.The Kingsley
House is one of two buildings in
Romulus suspected to have been sites
of involvement in the Underground
Railroad.
According to Pearl Varner, Romulus
Historical Park museum director, one
is the Wesleyan Methodist Church, a
white clapboard building originally
built in 1855 in the Five-Points area of
the city and the other site is the
Samuel R. Kingsley Sr. house, built in
1855, which was moved to the
Historical Park in 1995.
The Wesleyan Methodist Church
was moved in 1955, 100 years after it
was built. It remained on the same site
but was moved north a few hundred
feet to allow for the expansion of the
church. Varner said that workers
received a shock when two trap doors,
one near the entrance and another
near the pulpit were found, leading
into tunnels carved out beneath the
church. Scraps of pottery and wood
carvings were recovered before the
expansion continued.
The Samuel R. Kingsley Sr. house,
also part of the Romulus Historical
Park, was built adjacent to the church
by a member of its congregation in
1855. It also has kept secrets hidden
within the 163-year -old walls. The
home features a double stairway and
beneath the area where the two stair-
cases meet, there is a fairly large space
witha disguiseddoor.
“That was not too unusual, but there
It also has
kept secrets
hidden within the
163-year-old walls.
”
Time travel
Historical Museum and Society present a glimpse of city history
