Ancaster's Griffin House has been designated a National Historic Site by the federal government.

The Griffin House is no longer just a link to Ancaster's past. It's now part of Canada's story.

The former home of an escaped black American slave has been officially designated as a national historic site, putting it on par with other local treasures like Dundurn Castle, Whitehern and Battlefield House.

"We're ecstatic," said Lois Corey, curator of Fieldcote Museum, which oversees tours of the home.

"It protects the house and it acknowledges the significance for the story that it tells."

The honour, approved by federal Environment Minister John Baird, caps an unlikely journey for the Mineral Springs Road home that is nearly as remarkable as the one taken by its namesake former owner.

Purchased for its property by the Hamilton Conservation Authority 20 years ago, the Griffin House's significance only became apparent after its new owner began probing the site's history.

The research discovered that the home had been built around 1827 and then purchased seven years later by Enerals Griffin, an escaped West Virginia slave who moved to Ancaster Township in 1829 with his wife, Priscilla.

According to oral history, he fled here on his master's horse after forging a letter stating he had been granted his freedom and bluffing his way through at least one checkpoint along the way.

But perhaps the biggest shock came to the home's sellers: they were the fugitive slave's eighth-generation descendants.

"They had intermarried and lost all visible signs of their black ancestry," Ms. Corey said.

"That's not that uncommon. Since I've been affiliated with Griffin House, I've met all kinds of people who just happened to start doing their genealogy, their family history, and discovered along the way that they have black ancestry and that one of their ancestors was an escaped slave," she said.

"When you go back into Enerals Griffin's time, there was a pretty substantial black population here in Ancaster."

The conservation authority has since restored the original home, which had been covered with layers of siding and stucco.

It now hosts periodic tours, and archeological digs on its 20-hectare property have unearthed more than 3,000 artifacts, including pottery, medicine bottles, sleigh bells, buttons, beads, a bullet and arrowheads.

The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada recommended Mr. Baird confer the national designation in December -- about two years after receiving a joint application from the authority and city.

A plaque-unveiling ceremony is expected toward the end of next year.

"The house constitutes a rare example of domestic architecture associated with the Underground Railroad and with Black settlement in Canada in the first half of the 19th Century," the board concluded.

"The house conveys the complexity of the Black experience in British North America during the early years of the Underground Railroad, in that it represents a more elaborate dwelling than was common among black refugees, and was situated within a predominantly Euro-Canadian community."

Ms. Corey said she sees Mr. Griffin as a positive role model for young blacks as someone who had the strength of character to persevere and prosper in difficult circumstances.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, he could read and write.

"All too often, the homes of escaped slaves are no longer standing or they weren't very substantial," she said.

"At that time in history, early 1800's, many people were still living in log cabins with dirt floors, and this was a decent, two-storey house and 50-acre farm. He went from roots in slavery to owning his own farm."

At last weekend's Doors Open Hamilton, Fieldcote volunteer Aline Chan welcomed 396 guests to Griffin House. Ms. Chan said she was impressed by the number of visitors who stopped by for a tour, especially during Saturday's dreary weather.

-WITH FILES FROM MIKE PEARSON