While such a man as Frederick Douglass, when still a slave, was an agent of the Underground Railroad, Southern anti-slavery people themselves were to a large extent the original projectors of the movement.

Even members of the families of slaveholders have been known to assist fugitives in their escape to the North.
The fugitives traveled in various ways which were determined partly by geographical conditions and partly by the character of the inhabitants of a region.

On the Atlantic coast, from Florida to Delaware, slaves were concealed in ships and were thus conveyed to free States.

Thence some made their way towards Canada by steamboat or railroad, though most made the journey on foot or, less frequently, in private conveyances.
Stalwart slaves sometimes walked from the Gulf States to the free States, traveling chiefly by night and guided by the North Star.

Having reached a free State, they found friends among those of their own race, or were taken in hand by officers of the Underground Railroad and were thus helped across the Canadian border.
From the seacoast the valley of the Connecticut River furnished a convenient route for completing the journey northward, though the way of the fugitives was often deflected to the Lake Champlain region.