The Merrick Art Gallery in New Brighton was dealing with a sewer issue.
If you’ve had to deal with a backed-up sewer, you know how unpleasant that can be.
But, what started out a an inconvenience may have led to the gallery hitting the historic jackpot.
Michelle Long, director of the gallery, tells KDKA Radio they had to bring in a sewer company.
One of the workers said he was a part of a project at the gallery over 30 years ago, telling them he had heard of a tunnel that was under the property.
That sparked Long’s interest, because she has been at the Merrick for four years and has been trying to find a tunnel because of New Brighton’s rich Underground Railroad history.
Long’s husband, who also works at the Merrick, found blueprints that showed where the hidden tunnel was on the property.
Once the sewer issue was taken care of, Long says they started to dig “where we kind of measured and thought that it might be where the opening was and low and behold, we were right on target.”
Long adds after moving the dirt and bricks, they’ve opened up it up enough that they can walk through.
The brick structure is what Long called the classic “barrel tunnel with the rounded top” and currently goes back a little over 60 feet, but she believes it goes further, but a brick wall is in the way.
She adds she’d like to explore further, but they’d have to go out on to the street.
“I don’t think the borough would be real happy with us,” said Long with a laugh.
Long says she loves local history and the underground railroad. She knows of at least 12 safe houses in the New Brighton area that was used to help slaves continue their journey, escaping the south before and during the Civil War.
What’s next
Long says she is in conversations with anthropologist and other experts to make sure the tunnel is deemed safe.
While she doesn’t think anyone will be allowed to go inside the tunnel, her goal is to illuminate the tunnel and place bars in front of it so people can walk down and see it.