In the late 1850s, the area north of present-day Lincoln Avenue in Gettysburg was largely farmland worked by Quakers. Escaping enslaved people from the South frequently reached this region as some of their first steps on free soil. Around the same time, local legend claims that Pennsylvania College students formed an unofficial fraternity called Beta Delta, known for rowdy behavior. Rumors later linked the group to a secret society called the “Black Ducks,” who allegedly helped hide and transport fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad. The students reportedly sheltered escaped slaves—sometimes hiding them in places like a cave on Culp’s Hill—and helped move them north toward freedom.