Grays Cemetery

At Grays Cemetery in Port Matilda (Stormstown), you will find a very unique inscription on the grave of Henry Gray Hartsock. The epitaph reads: “The untiring friend of the Negro [sic] in the days of American slavery.” Hartsock was one of the earliest abolitionists in Centre County. His grave lies next to his wife Nancy of Buffalo Run and Halfmoon valleys. According to Linn’s History, “runaway slaves seeking a route to Canada ever found protection and aid at his home.” Linn also wrote that, “in 1846 a party of runaway slaves, numbering ten, called at Hartsock's one Sunday morning, and in a trice found not only a hearty welcome but a capital breakfast. Fearful that the neighbors might discover and seek to return the fugitives, Hartsock concealed them in the woods near his house until nightfall, and then conducted them to the house of a colored [sic] man by name of Samuel Henderson, whose place was recognized as one of the stations on the Underground Railroad” (Linn 1883, 372). Freedom seekers were likely conveyed by Samuel Henderson from the Stormstown area to the next station (safe-house) in Bellefonte. Look closely at Henry Gray Hartsock's tombstone to make out the epitaph. We will be adding a better description of the grave's exact location.