Not far from the birthplace of famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass — Talbot County’s most honored native son — state and local officials gathered Tuesday morning to unveil interpretive panels about his life at the park named for him.

The event also kicked off Maryland’s commemoration of International Underground Railroad Month.

Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born enslaved along the Tuckahoe River in Talbot County. In 1838, at age 20, he escaped from Baltimore to freedom in the north and became an internationally renowned abolitionist, writer, orator and statesman.

Professor Dale Glenwood Green of Morgan State University presided over the event, which featured remarks from Lt. Gov. Boyd K. Rutherford and a video address from Kenneth B. Morris Jr., a great-great-great-great-grandson of Douglass and president of the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives.

About 50 people were invited to the private event at the Frederick Douglass Park on the Tuckahoe. The park, located at 13213 Lewistown Road near Queen Anne, opened February 14, 2018 on Douglass’s 200th birthday.

The new outdoor exhibits will provide visitors with information about Douglass’s life story, the significance of the site, and travel information to other sites around the state and county associated with Douglass. The exhibits are part of ongoing developments of the park.

This video is about 3 minutes long. A more complete story will publish on Wednesday.