MILFORD, PA — All are invited to a presentation by Bill Merchant of the D&H Canal Museum for a presentation on Black people and the Delaware and Hudson Canal. It will be held at 3 p.m. on Sunday, February 4 in the Foundation Room at the Columns Museum.

Merchant is a historian who has done extensive research on the marginalized workers on the D&H Canal. 

The D&H Canal Company relied completely on low-wage marginalized workers to construct and operate its canal. Immigrants, people of color, women and children comprised the vast majority of its workforce. 

The cost of admission is a suggested $5 donation. Light refreshments will be served. 

While there, visitors can see a permanent exhibit on the Davis-Bailey family. The exhibit tells the story of matriarch, Sarah Showers Davis, a fearless woman of color who defied the norm by purchasing her family home in predominantly white Milford in 1900 using her late husband’s Civil War pension. Also told is the story of the tragic death of her great-grandson, Sgt. Milton Wesley Bailey, who was M.I.A. and then declared dead during the Korean War. Milton’s letters home—sent to his mother and grandmother—are in the museum’s collection, along with family photographs and memorabilia. 

Both Milton and his great-grandfather, Abraham Davis, are honored through the “Home Town Heroes” series of banners that line Broad Street between the museum and the corner of Broad and Harford.

“We are proud of all these men and women and thank them for their service,” said museum director Lori Strelecki. 

The museum is open Wednesdays and Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission costs $5.

Learn more at www.pikehistorical.org.