AUBURN - Judith Bryant stared at the photograph of the light gray house where she lives on Garrow Street - it is the house where her mother was born, and the house where her grandmother had lived and cared for Harriet Tubman.

The photograph is one of many on display at The Cayuga Museum of History and Art's exhibit, “Seeking Freedom: Portraits of the Freedom Trail in Auburn and Cayuga County.” The exhibit, which officially opens today, celebrates the culmination of a year-long historical probe of the Freedom Trail in the area.

“I was surprised by the large number of buildings, houses and people that were identified in Cayuga County as being part of this network,” said Bryant, who attended a Friday night preview of the exhibit.

The survey by Historical New York Research Associates identified 100 sites within Auburn and Cayuga County related to the underground railroad, the loose network of ties that evolved between fugitive slaves, churches, private and public individuals during the early and mid-19th century.

“We're making an effort to create dialogue in the community,” said museum curator Carrie N. Barrett, who came on board the project after reaching out to Judith Wellman, the chair of New York Research Associates. Barret said she hopes the exhibit will rekindle pride in a community she sees as disconnected from a fascinating past.

“In Auburn, there are families that have been here for hundreds of years, and are aware of the history” said Barret, who contrasted more established Auburnians with relatively newer residents, who she said may have little sense of the history their own neighborhoods or houses might hold.

“Most people had no clue,” she said of property owners she, Wellman and others approached about the historical significance of their homes. “They were suspicious. When you mention a government agency, property owners worry about having restrictions placed on them.”

Barret said that homeowners, on feeling reassured, grew more interested in the project.

“Seeking Freedom” presents viewers with photographs, maps, books, videotapes, biographical sketches and interactive displays around the themes of the underground railroad and freedom. People will find, for instance, a child-friendly room upstairs in the museum devoted to a clothesline and clothespins, with construction-paper feet stapled to the line and the surrounding walls. Forms and markers in bowls on the table below the line ask people to write down their responses to the question, “What does freedom mean to you?” Anyone who feels inspired can pin their responses to the line; over the duration of the exhibit, which ends Feb. 24, the museum will recycle and publish what people write.

Bryant said she occasionally feels inspired to write down her family history. But gazing over the photographs, documents and maps displayed on the museum's lower floor brought the realization of what dauntingly extensive research such a project entails.

“You're telling the stories of people who couldn't or didn't tell it themselves,” she said.

The descendent of Harriet Tubman said she hopes the exhibit as a whole will inspire patrons to pay attention to their own families and their own family histories.

“Because your history is yours. Nobody can take it away from you,” she said.

Staff writer Olivia Goldberg can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 235 or olivia.goldberg@lee.net