A special beer is being launched in Guelph in the province of Ontario using a symbol of the so-called Underground Railroad, used by slaves in the 1800s to escape from the southern U.S. to Canada. Lantern Ale is named for the lights that were placed in the windows of safe houses along the route north, which was not a railroad, but a series of paths.
CBC reports that the Guelph Black Heritage Society has teamed up with Royal City Brewing to launch the beer tonight. Part of the proceeds will help the society make its Heritage Hall more accessible. This meeting place is in an 1880 building which was the British Methodist Episcopal Church and was linked to the Underground Railroad.
The society wants to make Heritage Hall “a destination, a sanctuary, a place for people to come and feel safe and feel at home—everybody, the whole community,” said secretary-treasurer Denise Francis to CBC.
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