Comments by "SmallSpoonBrigade" (@SmallSpoonBrigade) on "" video.

Yes, that's the biggest issue with it being a part of the underground railroad. There definitely were tunnels involved at various stops, but this is an absolutely massive tunnel for that. People would notice the dirt being removed and the literal tons of bricks. And, the entrance is at street level on the street side where people would be able to see folks coming and going. Most likely it's as other posters have side for the horses or as a tiny carriage house.
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Yes, priest holes are definitely a thing on estates over there. These sorts of things are far less common in the US as there was mostly just that one period during the '20s and '30s where there was a need for tunnels. There's definitely still bootlegger tunnels and hidden rooms that haven't been discovered. A friend found one only about 10 years ago. It was a tiny space that would open up if you opened a specific drawer. It wasn't large, but it was large enough to hold a decent amount of whiskey bottles.
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Considering that it opens onto what was street level, the most likely explanation is some sort of storage.
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Considering that it appears to have been at street level at the time the house was built, that was my thought. Most other things that a tunnel might be used for would probably involve more secrecy than a tunnel with an entrance a street level.
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There's a bit of issue with the entrance. If there isn't a way of getting into the tunnel from the back side, then it's not of much use for secret stuff.
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@kbcustoms3571 So? These people were asked with respect to this tunnel, not if the entirety of the underground railroad were under ground or involved trains.
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Often times there were short tunnels to and from the houses and buildings along the way to make it harder for people to see people that were coming and going from the house. Some houses in the UK had similar priest holes that the clergy could use during the period where the monarchy banned all non-sanctioned religions. That being said, it's doubtful it's something like that if the road had been low enough for people to see the doorway. I'm not sure what it is, but it wouldn't surprise me if it were something along the lines of a place to put the carriage when not in use.
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@Onoma314 It wouldn't surprise me if it got repurposed, although I'm curious how they got in and out without being observed. A lot of the infrastructure that booleggers used was already there, it just needed a secret entrance added.
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The main reason that that's probably not it is because the tunnel predates it by a lot. But, that being said, there are still bootlegger tunnels and rooms left to be discovered even now.
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