Piety (Patsy) Young and her daughter Eliza Self Emancipated August 8, 1824 from NAT. [NATHANIEL] HUNT.
executor of John Hunt, dec'd [deceased].
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Transcription of runaway ad placed by NAT. [NATHANIEL] HUNT. August 16. 80

$100 REWARD. RUN AWAY, or was stolen from the subscriber on the night of the eighth instant a bright mulatto woman (slave) and her child, a girl of about four years old. This woman ran away from the subscriber, executor of John Hunt, dec'd[deceased], in the summer of 1808, and passed as a free woman by the name of Patsy Young, until about the first of June last, when she was apprehended as a runaway. On the 6th of the same month I obtained possession of her in the town of Halifax; since which time, by an order of Franklin county court, she and her child Eliza have been sold, when the subscriber became the purchaser.

She spent the greater part of the time she was run away (say about sixteen years,) in the neighborhood of and in the town of Halifax; one or two summers at Rock Landing, where I am informed she cooked for the hands employed on the Canal. She has also spent some of her time in Plymouth, her occupation while there are not known.
At the above places she has many acquaintances. She is a tall spare woman, thin face and lips, long sharp nose, and fore-teeth somewhat decayed. She is an excellent seamstress, can make ladies and gentlemens dresses, is a good cook and weaver, and I am informed is a good cake-baker and beer-brewer, &c. by which occupations she principally gained her living.
Some time during last summer she married a free man of colour named Chrael Johnson, who had been living in and about Plymouth, and followed boating on the Roanoke. Since his marriage, he leased a farm of Mr. James Cotton of Scotland-Neck, Halifax county, where he was living together with this woman, at the time she was taken up as a runaway slave in June last.
I have but little doubt, that Johnson has contrived to seduce or steal her and child out of my possession, and will attempt to get them out of the State and pass as free persons. Should this be the case, I will give sixty-five dollars for his detection and conviction before the proper tribunal, in any part of this State. I will give for the apprehension of the woman and child, on their delivery to me, or so secured in jail or otherwise that I get them, thirty-five dollars; or, I will give twenty-five dollars for the woman alone, and ten dollars for the child alone. The proper name of the woman is PIETY, but she will no doubt change it as she did before.

I forwarn all owners of boats, captains and owners of vessels from taking on board their vessels, or carrying away this woman and her child Eliza, under the penalty of the law. NAT. [NATHANIEL] HUNT. August 16. 80 tf

Source: UNCG digital library--Raleigh, N.C. : Raleigh Register and North Carolina Weekly Advertiser; 8/20/1824, Page 2
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From: WRAL new story
Underwater ghost town: NC lake covers 'lost city' with links to Underground Railroad
Underwater ghost town: Home to famous beer-maker who escaped slavery, may have played role in Underground Railroad - By Heather Leah, WRAL multiplatform producer - Posted 9:50 AM Aug 9, 2023 Updated 5:26 AM Aug 14, 2023

Before her freedom, Young was known as Piety. Twice in her life, she escaped from Nathaniel Hunt's plantation in Franklin County. First, when she was 16. Then again, several years later, she escaped again, bringing her young daughter with her.

Escaping slavery was so dangerous that experts in Underground Railroad history say many enslaved men and women chose not to escape. Some felt they were not physically capable of making the journey. Others were afraid to leave their families. Still others were unsure how they'd make a living once off the plantation.

Young escaping as a mother with a 4-year-old daughter would have carried extreme risk – but the risk was worth her freedom. Plus, she knew exactly how she would make money and build a life for herself and her daughter, Eliza.

During her time in slavery, Young's cooking and brewing became extremely popular, allowing her enslaver to make a lot of money on her skills, according to storyteller and historic interpreter Jackie Ruffin, who plays Young and shares a 'firsthand account' of her escape into freedom -- and fame as a brewer.

"I heard about free people of color, able to work on the Roanoke Canal, and I wanted that job," said Ruffin, while in character as Young.

Aware of how much money her talents were worth, Young escaped the Franklin County plantation and ran for Halifax, which was known as a place with a large population of free Black families and abolitionists for the Underground Railroad.

According to angry 'slave ads' released from her outraged enslaver Nathaniel Hunt, he was clearly worried about all the money she was making cooking lunches and ale for the Roanoke Canal workers, where she had made plenty of friends and supporters.

He wrote that he was informed she'd been living near Halifax and spent summers in Rock Landing, where "she cooked for the hands employed on the Canal." He added, "at the above places she has many acquaintances.”

He warned her friends and supporters not to help her.

"I forewarn all owners of boats, captains and owners of vessels from taking on board their vessels or carrying away this woman and her child Eliza.

He also tried to steal her free name, writing, "The proper name of the woman is Piety, but she will no doubt change it."

Young was not the only Freedom Seeker known to have escaped to Rock Landing. At least five 'fugitive slave ads' point to Freedom Seekers who made their way to the canal town of Rock Landing.

Many of North Carolina's manmade, recreational lakes have entire ghost towns hidden beneath their surface.

However, one lost town in particular has an incredible story of a clever woman who escaped slavery in the 1800s and became a fugitive brewer that created beer so memorable it's still honored by brewers today.

The town where she lived in freedom, making a living on her beloved ale, was known as Rock Landing. Oddly, unlike the mill towns and farmland that we so often find beneath lakes, Rock Landing was apparently known for being pretty metropolitan for its time, according to Steven Lassiter Green-Hockaday, a historian who has been doing research on the role of the Underground Railroad in Rock Landing.

"It was supposed to be the next New York or Philadelphia," said Green-Hockaday. "Rock Landing was at the beginning of the Roanoke Canal, which was a big deal in 1817."

This would have made Rock Landing a center of shipping in North Carolina, bringing in wealth and people from all over the country.

It also made the town an ideal place for those escaping slavery to hide – because the Roanoke Canal and Roanoke River in Halifax County are both known for their major roles as 'freedom roads,' helping enslaved men and women escape slavery from this area of the state. Even today, Halifax County is the only place in NC with three registered historic sites on the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. These are places where visitors can touch tangible remnants of this painful and powerful past.

Why did Rock Landing become a ghost town?
Today, Rock Landing is just a name on a street sign.

In its heyday, Rock Landing was a major terminus on the Roanoke Canal. According to letters and writings from the era, it was slated to be the next New York City or Philadephia and was wondered metropolitan.

"There were taverns, restaurants, shops, a hotel and homes. A bustling port with workers eating lunch. People from New York speculated on the land. Some of my research shows it may have even had one of the first Oddfellows organizations," he said. "It was a canal boom town."

So why would such a metropolitan town eventually become a ghost town?

"The railroad came through and made the canal obsolete," said Green-Hockaday.

The railroad bypassed Rock Landing all-together, leaving the once-bustling port town out of the path of progress.

Even the famous Roanoke Canal itself has even been mostly flooded beneath the lake – forgotten by time.

However, there's a stretch still of dry land where people can hike or even visit the historic remnants at the Roanoke Canal Museum & Trail.

Along that stretch is a 200-year-old stone aqueduct built using enslaved labor that was also used to help freedom seekers escaping slavery along the canal.

Patsy Young inspires new generation of Black women working in brewing
According to experts at Good Beer Hunting, enslaved men and women played a major role in the history of beer brewing.

"It was enslaved people and other household laborers who were critical to beer production in the earliest years of American history," they wrote.

Young's ale was not only popular enough to earn her livelihood in freedom, but famous enough that her story and beer have continued to capture imaginations nearly 200 years later.

"Some local brewers and historians are working to try and re-create her beer in her name and honor her history and memory," said Green-Hockaday.

Celeste Beatty, owner and creator of Harlem Brewing Company – and Harlem Brew South in Rocky Mount – is the first Black woman in the United States to own a brewery. Beatty, who has made history as a brewer herself, is inspired by Patsy Young's story. So nearly 200 years after Young first brewed her famous ale, Beatty hopes to create a beer inspired by Young's story.
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Other resources about Piety- Patsy Young:

Smithsonian-The Fugitive Brewer
Season 7 - January 12, 2022
https://www.si.edu/sidedoor/fugitive-brewer
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Good Beer Hunting- Words by Theresa McCulla / Ilustrations by Colette Holston - September 15, 2021
https://www.goodbeerhunting.com/blog/2021/9/14/patsy-young-american-brewer-fugitive-from-slavery