From Sarah Collins 1749 A place of spiritual power at the meeting of waters. Crossing the Patowmack.
God has established the Allegheny Mountains from the foundation of the world that they might one day be a refuge for fugitive slaves. -John Brown
The following afternoon, Kweku heard the waters of the Patowmack before he saw them. Walking out of the woods near the point where the two rivers flowed together, he looked in wonderment at the steep channel that the big river had cut right through the Blue Ridge mountains. He admired the river for its great power, and then he admired the mountains for still holding themselves up high, even while they gave the river a passage through. Those mountains were the wall that was now helping protect him. Across the Patowmack, where he was headed, he could see the land rising to further heights to the northwest, and trusted that he would cross more mountain chains on the way to his destination, each one adding to the barrier between him and his enemy.
As he headed out of the woods toward the river, he paused, looking and listening carefully, before setting out over open ground. Satisfied that no one was there, he went ahead and found the soil becoming sandy, the land grassy and in places marshy, with stands of trees here and there. Walking down the slope toward the riverbank, he suddenly felt something and paused. The only sounds were the rushing of the rivers, the rustling of the wind, and the songs of birds. He could not tell if the feeling was around him in the land or within his soul. It felt as though a great spiritual power were in this place. It moved him in the depths of his soul, and he said a prayer that the power in this place would one day free his people from slavery, as that power as if in response surged through his prayers, weaving them into the spiritual weft of the land where he stood.
He headed upstream a little way to where there were plenty of islands. Then he went down to the water and stepped in. He began to swim as his feet left the bottom, but was suddenly carried along by a more powerful current than he'd anticipated. Swimming with all his might, he made his way toward an island downstream, as the current swept him toward the rapids he could hear getting louder just ahead. Before he knew it, his feet touched bottom again and he struggled onto the flat stretch of cobbles. In this way, he crossed two more islands, and found the current in those channels more manageable, though it used up the last of his stamina to complete the crossing.
Sitting and resting on the rocky beach on the north side of the Patowmack, Kweku looked up at the clearing ahead, which was widest at the beach and narrowed up the flank of the river valley, into the woods above, until it disappeared between the trees. When he walked up there, he found the trail bending upstream, around a hill. Kweku spoke aloud to the woodland beings: "I will reach freedom, across the mountains to the northwest, or die trying. So help me Yowa!"
The following afternoon, Kweku heard the waters of the Patowmack before he saw them. Walking out of the woods near the point where the two rivers flowed together, he looked in wonderment at the steep channel that the big river had cut right through the Blue Ridge mountains. He admired the river for its great power, and then he admired the mountains for still holding themselves up high, even while they gave the river a passage through. Those mountains were the wall that was now helping protect him. Across the Patowmack, where he was headed, he could see the land rising to further heights to the northwest, and trusted that he would cross more mountain chains on the way to his destination, each one adding to the barrier between him and his enemy.
As he headed out of the woods toward the river, he paused, looking and listening carefully, before setting out over open ground. Satisfied that no one was there, he went ahead and found the soil becoming sandy, the land grassy and in places marshy, with stands of trees here and there. Walking down the slope toward the riverbank, he suddenly felt something and paused. The only sounds were the rushing of the rivers, the rustling of the wind, and the songs of birds. He could not tell if the feeling was around him in the land or within his soul. It felt as though a great spiritual power were in this place. It moved him in the depths of his soul, and he said a prayer that the power in this place would one day free his people from slavery, as that power as if in response surged through his prayers, weaving them into the spiritual weft of the land where he stood.
He headed upstream a little way to where there were plenty of islands. Then he went down to the water and stepped in. He began to swim as his feet left the bottom, but was suddenly carried along by a more powerful current than he'd anticipated. Swimming with all his might, he made his way toward an island downstream, as the current swept him toward the rapids he could hear getting louder just ahead. Before he knew it, his feet touched bottom again and he struggled onto the flat stretch of cobbles. In this way, he crossed two more islands, and found the current in those channels more manageable, though it used up the last of his stamina to complete the crossing.
Sitting and resting on the rocky beach on the north side of the Patowmack, Kweku looked up at the clearing ahead, which was widest at the beach and narrowed up the flank of the river valley, into the woods above, until it disappeared between the trees. When he walked up there, he found the trail bending upstream, around a hill. Kweku spoke aloud to the woodland beings: "I will reach freedom, across the mountains to the northwest, or die trying. So help me Yowa!"