The Peter Mott House is a museum and renovated station along the Underground Railroad, the clandestine network to freedom for fugitives in the 19th century. The Lawnside Historical Society was founded and formed to protect the legacy of Peter and Elizabeth Mott and their home as part of the Underground Railroad network.
The Lawnside Historical Society, Inc., is a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization founded in March 1990 to protect, preserve and maintain the Peter Mott House. The Society’s early years were spent strategizing and negotiating to acquire the rights to the Mott House property. It succeeded, and on Feb. 20, 1992, the Society was handed the deed.
The house was restored for use as a museum of the Underground Railroad and of Lawnside, the only historically African-American incorporated municipality in the northern United States. Grants from state and national agencies assisted in the restoration. The Peter Mott House is listed on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places. It has been open to the public since October 2001, and is operated by the Lawnside Historical Society.
The Lawnside Historical Society’s mission is to preserve and protect the heritage of Lawnside, N.J., the state’s only African-American incorporated municipality, by restoring the Peter Mott House for use as a museum and station along the Underground Railroad, the clandestine network to freedom for fugitives in the 19th century. The Society conducts tours of the Peter Mott House and provides speakers for groups and organizations.
Linda Shockley
President
C. Joyce Fowler
Vice President
Chrissandra Butler
Recording Secretary
Gloria Goodman
Financial Secretary
Christine Lewis-Coker
Treasurer
Jacqueline Bentley Stephanie Fisher Dr. Keith Green Linda Shockley