Now you can experience one of the most storied treks to freedom in American history – by bicycle. A clandestine network of routes and safe houses that helped enslaved Americans find freedom, the exact origin of the name is not known; however, by the 1820s both those who aided freedom seekers and those who were angered by the loss of their human “property” began to refer to an Underground Railroad. In its most developed form, the Underground Railroad offered local aid to runaways, assisting them from one point to another.