Many men and women who were conductors on the Underground Railroad also offered their homes as stations. Others acted only as stationmasters and provided food, clothing, shelter, and medical care for fugitive slaves.

Maps of the Underground Railroad show many stations in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and other New England states. Stations within individual states were usually about twelve miles apart—the distance a healthy adult could travel on foot in one night or the distance a wagon carrying several escapees could easily travel from dusk to dawn.

Some stations, such as the one belonging to Levi and Catherine Coffin in Newport, Indiana (later renamed Fountain City), were so well known that three different routes converged at their home. The Coffins, who were Quakers, were so successful as stationmasters that Levi Coffin earned the unofficial title of...