The ‘lost history’ of Frederick Douglass: Columbia author details abolitionist’s relationship with Howard County

Howard County residents are no strangers to Maryland Area Rail Commuter trips across the Baltimore-Washington region. But what today’s commuters might not know is they are riding the same rail system used by famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass nearly 150 years ago. From his post-Civil War-era home in Washington, D.C., Douglass could walk down to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad depot at 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue and catch a train north. He would have disembarked at what is now the MARC Savage and Jessup stations for his visits to Howard County. “[He could] probably be in Howard County, if he caught the right train, within an hour, hour and a half, maybe even less,” said Columbia resident and local historian John Muller, author of the 2012 book “Frederick Douglass in Washington, D.C.: The Lion of Anacostia.”