Lewis and Harriet Hayden House
A Beacon Hill boarding house, and what its keepers were ready to do to keep it safe.
Listen to this place’s story in Peplos.
How the story begins
William Craft said there was a keg of gunpowder under this house, with a fuse ready. He was one of the people it was meant to protect. Craft and his wife Ellen had escaped slavery in Georgia, with Ellen disguised as a male slaveholder. In the summer of 1850 the census listed them here, at the boarding house of Lewis and Harriet Hayden. Lewis and Harriet had themselves escaped slavery in Kentucky six years earlier, with one son.
The rest is in the app. Peplos plays the full story when you reach the place. You can also listen ahead of time.
Visiting
66 Phillips Street, Beacon Hill. Private residence, not open to the public. It can only be seen from outside. It is a stop on the Black Heritage Trail.
Photos
Sources
- National Park Service, Lewis and Harriet Hayden House
- National Park Service, place page (updated January 2026)
- House Divided, Dickinson College: American National Biography entry on Lewis Hayden
- New Georgia Encyclopedia, William and Ellen Craft
This text was written by AI from open sources. Found a mistake? Write to us. Support
.jpg){kind=link}