Norwich — Historians for years have studied and marveled at the 1881 autobiography of James Lindsey Smith, who described in detail how he escaped slavery in Virginia to eventually settle in Norwich.

But until now, no one has tried to retrace the very route Smith took during his first fright-filled days when he made his way at age 30 from the Mantua plantation in Northern Neck, Va., to Philadelphia.

On May 6, the anniversary of the 1838 date when Smith courageously headed north, several members of Castle Church in downtown Norwich will meet up with Kathy Schuder, executive director of the Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Society in Heathsville, Va., to follow Smith’s journey.

Castle Church Pastor Adam Bowles, 48, of Lisbon will be joined by Jono Wibberley, 29, of Jewett City, who will document the trip on video, Alexis Valle, 34, of Norwich, Caleb Roseme, 36, of Norwich and Robenson Charlotin, 35, of Norwich.

Schuder has studied "The Autobiography of James L. Smith" for years and has matched Smith's detailed descriptions, which include mileage distances, with local records to pinpoint his route to freedom.

Schuder will lead the group to the Mantua plantation and the spot on the banks of the Coan River where Smith and two companions started toward freedom, commandeering first a canoe and then a sailboat.

“At first it kind of felt like a cool idea,” Bowles, one of the travelers, said, “and it grew into something much more.”

They will spend the first day with Schuder, walking the former plantation land where Smith had toiled. Smith and his two fellow escapees, Zip and Lorenzo, who were from another plantation owned by a man named James Smith, initially planned to escape on Christmas in 1837, but their plan was thwarted by a frozen river. On May 6, 1838, they had to flee abruptly when they learned Zip was to be sold and taken to Georgia.

Instead of a canoe and sailboat, the modern travelers will board a chartered small boat to Chesapeake Bay to where Smith and his companions likely landed in Maryland and started walking.

To Bowles, this was the critical point in Smith’s journey, a direct connection to Castle Church’s own motto, “nevertheless” — the point where a person feels deflated or defeated but perseveres to continue a mission.

Smith, injured and exhausted, could not keep up with Zip and Lorenzo, and they had to move on without him. Smith sat down, wept and prayed and thought of turning back and giving himself up.

“Then I thought that would not do,” Smith wrote in his autobiography. “A voice spoke to me, ‘not to make a fool of myself, you have got so far from home (about two hundred and fifty miles), keep on towards freedom, and if you are taken, let it be heading towards freedom.’”

Smith followed a railroad track. Never having seen a train, he described in frightening detail the fire-and-smoke-breathing screaming devil coming to consume him. Hours later, the monster came again and, from his hiding place, he saw only white people captured inside its wagons and felt better.

Amazingly, Smith met up again with Zip and Lorenzo in Newcastle, Del. They were surprised, when they boarded a ship in this notorious slave-catching town, that no one gave them a second look when they boarded and bought tickets with the little money they had to go to Philadelphia.

Wibberley designed a T-shirt for the modern travelers, with the word “Nevertheless” beneath a Castle Church logo on the front and a quote from Smith, “How many mighty obstacles must fall,” on the back.

Bowles called Smith’s autobiography “a real treasure” for Norwich. The Society of the Founders of Norwich reprinted the book in 1976.

Castle Church is using Smith’s story as a stepping stone for a bigger purpose. The church moved into the historical former Norwich Savings Society building at the corner of Broadway and Main Street in 2019. There is a plain, white wall on the Broadway side, where the bank had torn down a building decades ago. The vacant lot has been blighted and virtually abandoned for years.

Castle Church leaders hope to raise $35,000 through donations and grants to paint a giant mural on the 40-by-50-foot wall, prominently featuring images of Smith and Sarah Harris, one of the first Black students to attend Prudence Crandall’s school in Canterbury in 1833.

Traveler Charlotin will be the model for Smith’s image. As a Haitian immigrant, Charlotin said he can empathize with Smith’s desire to flee from a desperate situation to seek a better life.

“We settled on the theme of resilience, coming out of the (COVID-19) pandemic,” Bowles said, “and settled on James L. Smith and Sarah Harris. Both of those historic figures have themes of resilience.”

The mural is the first phase of a plan to renovate the vacant space to create Jubilee Park, adopting its name from another passage in Smith’s autobiography.

Smith had a shoemaking shop in Norwich's Franklin Square in 1862, when “our beloved martyred President” announced his Emancipation Proclamation that would free slaves in rebellious states on Jan. 1, 1863.

“It sent a thrill of joy through every avenue of my soul,” Smith wrote. “I exclaimed, ‘Glory to God, peace on earth, and good will to men,’ for the year of jubilee has come!”

Norwich City Historian Dale Plummer, who met with Castle Church leaders, has lamented the former bank’s demolition of the building on that site. He looks forward to finally seeing something positive in that space.

“I think it’s really inspired,” Plummer said of the church’s plan. “It’s the right time to do it. Smith has kind of been in the background all these years. It’s a great story. It illustrates a lot of things about the Underground Railroad and how it worked. It really gives a lot of details of his life in slavery, as well as his escape from slavery.”

Schuder, the Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Society executive director, said Smith’s autobiography is well known in her area. Historians have studied his journey, local references, escape from slavery and later return trip to the very plantation he fled. Smith was born Lindsey Payne, but when he escaped, he took the name James Smith, the name of the owner of the plantation from which Zip and Lorenzo escaped.

Schuder said Smith’s writing skills probably emanated from his experiences as a preacher in early adulthood.

“He is a good writer, and that’s most likely because he became a minister before his escape,” Schuder said. “He was leading religious meetings here. This was something he was passionate about in his early years.”

c.bessette@theday.com