For a look at one of the darkest eras of American history, pay a visit to this small museum on Duke St. In the 1830s, this nondescript brick building housed the headquarters of the largest domestic slave-trading company in the country. Among the shackles, iron bars and low ceilings in the basement, multimedia exhibits give a glimpse of what life was like for the enslaved people held here.
Up to 150 slaves were kept in the holding pen outside (since torn down). Among those likely held here was Solomon Northup, a free black man who in 1841 was kidnapped from Washington and sold into bondage in the south. His story was portrayed in the film Twelve Years a Slave . There's no admission, but donations encouraged.
