Marshall Key House and Slave Auction Site

It was in 1833, while visiting a student from her Cincinnati girls' school at this house, that Harriet Beecher (not yet married to Mr. Stowe) was taken to see a slave auction. This auction left an indelible stamp on Harriet's mind that became part of the inspiration for her novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin. She describes this slave auction in her book. Our group walked through the house and then a hundred yards down the street to see the actual location of the slave market and the field in which Harriet stood, horrified by what she was viewing.

Jerry Gore, Founder and Curator of the National Underground Railroad Museum talked to us at the site of the first Mason County Courthouse and slave auction block. He told us that people were examined like cattle or automobiles in a showroom. They could be touched anywhere on their bodies. Their teeth were checked, and they were frequently stripped naked. Men usually sold for $900; children $500; and women $1500. People with special skills brought more money.

The original courthouse is long gone but the house on the property today is for sale. The Footsteps leaders and other scholars of the Underground Railroad are hoping that the new owners will not tear down the wall and auction area, removing evidence of this important link to the past.

"I related to Harriet Beecher Stowe and the horror she must have felt as she witnessed the slave auction. To think her friend's father brought her there for entertainment! I can imagine myself in her shoes, with all the thoughts that must have gone through her mind. You think you're paying your friend's family a visit, and you end up having your whole life changed."
-Footsteps Participant

Jerry Gore explains the horror and humiliation of the auction site where Black slaves were paraded and sold.

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