By KATHERINE IMBRIE
Journal-Bulletin Staff Writer

Rhode Islanders who have seen the movie Amistad readily recognize many of the local sites where the Steven Spielberg epic was shot just last spring. Providence's State House stands in for the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., and in Newport, Trinity Church, Queen Anne Square and Washington Square stand in for the New Haven, Conn., sites where the Amistad Africans were jailed and tried in the first of three trials that eventually won them their freedom.

Rhode Island played a big role in the movie of the Amistad case, but nearby Connecticut was the actual scene of most of the events of the landmark civil rights case. After being sighted off of Montauk on Long Island in August of 1839, the schooner Amistad was brought to New London, Conn., where the 53 Africans on board were processed in the Custom House and then sent on to jail in New Haven, where they would await trial.

The Amistad Africans would remain in New Haven for a year and a half, while their case was tried in New Haven, then in Hartford and finally in the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. Finally, after being declared free in February of 1841, they moved to Farmington, Conn. (a country town just west of Hartford), where they lived for eight months while local supporters and abolitionists raised the money to allow them to return to Africa in November of 1841.

The town of Farmington is about a two-hour drive from Providence, and it makes a natural focal point for a day-trip loop tour of eastern Connecticut that takes in a number of interesting Amistad-related sites. From Farmington, head south to New Haven (about a 40-minute drive), then back to Rhode Island by Route 95 (about two hours). If you follow this suggested tour, you may find yourself in the vicinity of the pretty Connecticut River town of Essex by evening. Essex doesn't have any Amistad sites, but it does have a couple of restaurants -- the Black Seal and the Griswold Inn, both on Main Street -- that offer good food at reasonable prices, along with a great deal of Colonial-era charm and warmth. (The Griswold's cozy Tap Room has live music most evenings: Sea chanteys on Mondays and a banjo band on weekends.)

Many of the Amistad sites in Farmington, New Haven and New London are included on Connecticut's Freedom Trail, a well-documented collection of historical sites throughout the state that relate to black history and the struggle for civil rights.

Besides the Amistad sites, the Trail includes many sites that were stops on the Underground Railroad, the name for a network of safe havens and hiding places for fugitive slaves that enabled them to escape from Southern slave-holding states to Northern free states or to Canada. Altogether, the Trail includes 69 sites in 30 Connecticut towns. About 20 sites relate to the Amistad case.

Whether you're primarily interested in tracking down Amistad sites or more generally in sites relating to the Underground Railroad in Connecticut, the Freedom Trail is a good guide to follow. A free fold-out color brochure on the Trail can be picked up at many tourist locations throughout the state.

The brochure also is available from The Amistad Committee, Inc., P.O. Box 2936, Westville Station, New Haven, Conn. 06515. The committee sells a package of four auto-tour cassette tapes (one for each corner of Connecticut) that may be played in your car while you follow the Trail. The package of tapes is available for $19.95 plus $4.50 for postage and handling. Or you can order a half-hour video, The Amistad Revolt, for $39.95 plus $4.50 for postage and handling. Call the committee at (203) 387-0370 to order either the tapes or the video.

Start in Farmington

To do your own tour of Amistad sites, start in the lovely rural town of Farmington, just west of Hartford. To get there from Providence most directly, follow Route 6 west to Bolton Notch (nearly in Hartford), where signs direct you to Interstate 384 into Hartford. Once in the city, follow signs for Route 6 West again. Take the exit for Farmington (Route 4), and once in the center of Farmington, turn left at the light onto Main Street (Route 10).

All of the notable Amistad sites in Farmington are located on or just off of Main Street. Most are not open to the public, but may be easily viewed from the street.

The first is the First Church of Christ, Congregational, 75 Main St., a classic white-steepled church built in 1771, that is a National Historic Landmark. Members of the congregation of this church invited the freed Amistad Africans to Farmington and supported and educated them during their eight-month stay. The Africans attended church services here, sitting in the left-hand balcony facing the pulpit.

Turn left onto Church Street immediately after the church to see Union Hall, now an art gallery and school called the Art Guild. The second floor of this building (which then stood closer to the church) was where Farmington abolitionists met to plan their support of the former captives. Women of the church congregation also gathered at Union Hall to sew clothes for the Africans.

Return to Main Street to view the Samuel Deming House (66 Main St.), the home of a local merchant who was one of the abolitionists who brought the Amistad Africans to Farmington.

Turn right onto Mill Lane to see Your Village Store. For six weeks after they first arrived in Farmington in March of 1841, the Africans lived on the second floor of this building, which was Samuel Deming's store (then located closer to his house). Later, when the Africans moved to larger quarters farther down Main Street, this space was used as the classroom where they were educated in English.

Return to Main Street to find the Rev. Noah Porter house (116 Main St.). The three-story brick house was the home of the minister of the Congregational Church who took in Margru, one of the three girls from the Amistad. After returning to Africa with the others, Margru came back to the United States to attend Ohio's Oberlin College, and then went back to Africa as a teacher.

Farther along Main Street, on the left, is the Austin F. Williams House and Carriage House (127 Main St.). The carriage house was built as a dormitory for the men and boys of the Amistad while they lived in Farmington. The leader of the group, Joseph Cinque, had a private room in the same building.

Turn right onto Meadow Road, then right again onto Garden Street to find Riverside Cemetery on your left. Here is the grave of one of the Amistad Africans, named Foone, who drowned nearby. To find Foone's gravestone, enter the cemetery by the South Gate. The stone is about 10 feet in on the left side, about two-thirds of the way down the South Gate drive.

Continue along Garden Street to find the last Farmington Amistad site, the Canal House and Pitkin Basin (128 Garden St.) on your left. Currently being used as office space, the part of the long, red building that is on the far right once served as a toll house for the Farmington Canal. In front of the building, in what is now a parking lot, was the Pitkin Basin, a turn-around for canal boats. While in Farmington, the Amistad Africans made trips via the canal to nearby towns, where they made appearances to raise funds for their return to Africa. Foone drowned in Pitkin Basin in what was later judged to be a suicide.

Return to Main Street and continue south. Follow signs to Route 6 East, then take Route 9 South to Interstate 91 South to New Haven.

On to New Haven

Even though the Amistad Africans spent more time in New Haven than anywhere else in Connecticut, there are few sites remaining in the city that relate to their story. The jail where they were incarcerated (represented in the movie by a set on Newport's Queen Anne Square) actually stood where the present City Hall is, overlooking the spacious New Haven Green and the Georgian-style Center Church. Only the Green and the view of the church look today as they did in 1840.

The Amistad Memorial, designed by sculptor Ed Hamilton and erected in front of City Hall in 1992, stands on the site of the jail where the captives were held.

The other place in New Haven that relates to the Amistad case is the New Haven Colony Historical Society (114 Whitney Ave.). Here is a small exhibit of about 60 pieces of Amistad memorabilia, including a portrait of Cinque by Nathaniel Jocelyn, a contemporary watercolor of the schooner Amistad, and the law-office sign of the Africans' lawyer Roger Sherman Baldwin.

To get to the Historical Society from Interstate 91, take Exit 3 for Trumbull Street, continue two blocks on Trumbull and turn right onto Whitney Avenue. There is parking behind the building. The Society is open Tues.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat. and Sun. 2-5 p.m. Admission is $2 for adults, $1 for children ages 6-16.

From the Historical Society, drive down Whitney Avenue south toward New Haven Green. Whitney turns into Church Street, which forms one side of the Green. City Hall and the 14-foot bronze Amistad Memorial face the Green from Church Street.

From New Haven Green, follow signs to Interstate 95 North, heading back to Rhode Island.

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