Harriet Tubman Home Visitor Center, Harriet Tubman National Historical Park

GENERAL INFORMATION

The Harriet Tubman Home Visitor Center is located at 180 South Street in Auburn, New York. It was built in 1983 after the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged was officially designated a National Historic Landmark in 1974. The facility was initially used as a multipurpose center, but it was converted into a visitor center in 2006 after the site received a federal Save America’s Treasures grant in 2000 for $450,000.

OPERATING HOURS

The Visitor Center is typically open year-round on Tuesdays through Sundays from 10 AM to 4 PM. Keep in mind that times can always change, so be sure to get the latest schedule on the Harriet Tubman Home, Inc. website.

AMENITIES

• Information desk where you can ask questions and pick up a park brochure
• Home for the Aged Tour starting location
• Exhibit area
• Small souvenir shop
• Restrooms

Souvenir shop at the Harriet Tubman Home Visitor Center, Harriet Tubman National Historical Park

EXHIBIT AREA

Exhibit area at the Harriet Tubman Home Visitor Center, Harriet Tubman National Historical Park

The main attraction of the Visitor Center is a small museum dedicated to Harriet Tubman’s adult life and contributions to the Auburn, New York, community. While she is best associated with her abolitionist work and the Underground Railroad, this is not the focus of the exhibits. If you are interested in a more detailed look at Tubman’s earlier years, be sure to take the tour of the Home for the Aged, as the first half gives a fantastic presentation on her entire life.

Exhibit area at the Harriet Tubman Home Visitor Center, Harriet Tubman National Historical Park

While the exhibits are mainly comprised of information panels and historical photographs, there are a few artifacts on display that are assumed to have belonged to Tubman. These were discovered during some of the excavation projects done at different locations around the property, including the site of her original wood frame house that burned down in 1880. The brick home standing today was built after the fire.

Artifacts on display at the Harriet Tubman Home Visitor Center, Harriet Tubman National Historical Park

SCHEDULING YOUR TIME

Plan to spend around 45 minutes reading all the information panels and viewing the artifacts. Please note that the first hour of the Home for the Aged tour takes place in the Visitor Center. Once the group heads outside to the home, the Visitor Center is locked and you will have to wait about an hour to get back in (it is roughly a two-hour tour).

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