One important theme on the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway is the growth of free Black communities. These enclaves were important to the security, prosperity, and cultural preservation of African Americans, as well as to people fleeing enslavement through the Delaware landscape. Places where help could be found became known by word of mouth. Star Hill was one such community that grew on the outskirts of Camden before the Civil War. Oral tradition suggests that Star Hill was active in the Underground Railroad. It was settled by several families documented as Underground Railroad supporters, including the Gibbs family, farmers, brickmakers and builders.
The neighborhood is marked by the Star Hill African Methodist Episcopal Church, initially constructed in 1866, with the three-bay structure attached to the rear remaining from the original construction. The present church was built in 1905. Although the church postdates the Civil War, it serves as a marker of the community that flourished here in the early 19th century.
The church hall for many years housed a museum (now closed) dedicated to interpreting early Black family life, established and maintained by a local champion of Black history, the late Lucreatia Wilson.