The Underground Railroad in Ridgefield: A hidden piece of Black history, revealed

Ridgefield Town historian Jack Sanders will be joined on Saturday, Feb. 21, at 2 pm. (snow date Feb. 28) by Ira Joe Fisher for a conversation centered around Sanders’ book, Uncle Ned’s Mountain, Three centuries of African Americans — free and enslaved — in a small New England town. The Black History Month event is presented by the Ridgefield Historical Society and The Meetinghouse in Ridgebury and is part of both organizations’ commemoration of the 250th  anniversary of America in 2026.

Several years ago, Mr. Sanders discovered and wrote about the existence of a station on the Underground Railroad that had been quietly maintained by Ned and Betsy Armstrong, a Black couple who were well-known in the Ridgebury community. Ira Joe Fisher, an acclaimed broadcaster and Ridgefield Poet Laureate, is a lively interlocutor, as he and Mr. Sanders demonstrated in their last Ridgefield Historical Society program together, a discussion of Mr. Sanders’ book, Here Lyes Ye Body, in October.

Their conversation will take place at 2 p.m. at the Meetinghouse (in the historic Ridgebury Congregational Church, 605 Ridgebury Road). The hour-long program will touch on many other aspects of the lives of Black Americans in Ridgefield, from the earliest days of the town to present day. A reception will follow and books will be available for purchase and signing.