Water Street Landing Park overlooks the Roanoke River in downtown Plymouth, North Carolina. What is now the park once was part of one of the state’s busiest seaports.​

Before and during the Civil War, enslaved people who’d left nearby plantations to seek freedom mingled on the waterfront among dock workers, sailors and ships’ passengers. A few courageous allies surreptitiously helped the freedom seekers continue their journeys or blend in with local free people of color and find work.​

Water Street Landing Park has been designated by the National Park Service as a Network to Freedom National Underground Railroad site. The designation is dedicated to the bravery of the enslaved people who came to the Plymouth Waterfront seeking their freedom; and to their allies, enslaved and free who, at great risk, helped the freedom seekers find their way to a better life.​

Eight more Network to Freedom sites—including the Roanoke River itself—are within 75 miles of Plymouth. ​