The planned Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center in Dorchester County is getting $8.5 million for construction costs from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the last piece it needed to move forward. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley made the announcement for the $21 million project on Tuesday.
The construction will support an estimated 225 local jobs, and Harriet Tubman State Park will directly support 10 full-time employees as well as spinoff jobs related to hospitality, tour guides and recreational activities in the county. The park expects annual visitors to grow to more than 200,000 with an anticipated long-term economic impact of $20 million each year, according to O’Malley.
The long-awaited visitor center south of Cambridge on Maryland’s Eastern Shore is the key component of an effort to create a Scenic Byway and National Historical Park honoring Maryland native Harriet Ross Tubman. O’Malley called the center “a step forward in promoting Maryland’s critical role in the fight for freedom, in recognizing the efforts of a remarkable Marylander, and for creating new jobs on the Eastern Shore.”
Groundbreaking for the center will take place next year and expected completion is in 2013, 100 years after Tubman’s death.
