You must have missed the references to Laura Smith Haviland, "well-known conductor", and "old Haviland family Centennial home in Raisin Twp., Lenawee Co., Michigan" in my very first post.
There were two sizable groups in Lenawee Co. MI supporting abolition- the vociferous advocates getting lots of attention like Elizabeth Chandler, and the quiet Raisin Twp residents accomplishing the task of helping former slaves reach Canada. (see links below for biographies)

The Haviland families came from Niagara Co., NY to Raisin Twp., Lenawee Co., Michigan in 1829 and 1833, They bought every parcel of land along the railroad for almost a mile and a half south of the River Raisin. North of the River Raisin, the Sutton family owned the land and their home is reported to have been an UGRR station. (The brick house is now behind locked gates on the Wacker Chemical property and as far as I know, no tours of the underground rooms have been given for decades)

In 1837 Laura and Charles Haviland founded the Raisin Valley Institute, a school where all races were welcomed and taught together. Charles and some of their children died in 1845, and Laura became even more involved in the UGRR movement, raising funds, and going on rescue missions. In 1851 Philo Haviland (1824-1865), their nephew, bought this particular farm which stayed in his family for about 135 years. Although the earlier Haviland's had proven connections to the UGRR, the last Haviland to live here, historian and teacher, Edith Haviland (1895-1987) told me (in 1978) that because relatives of Laura Haviland would have been closely watched (There was a bounty on the head of Laura), their home probably was not used to hide run-away slaves.

That being said, it does have hidden entrances to the basements (a wall, complete with window, was added to hide the south end of the basement under the two-story portion of the house. The 24 ft long northern portion under the one-story wing (currently the livingroom) had a partial wall in the middle to simulate those two sections of the house. The entrance to the south basement was disguised as a cupboard under the stairs. Open the door, remove the shelves, raise the back panel, which was hinged at the top, and the steep stairs down into the basement are revealed (it probably was open most of the time); Some of the porch boards formed an invisible trap door into the north one. (The main stairs to this basement were accessed by a 30" x 66" (approx.) trap door in the NE corner floor). An window in the west basement wall opened to a crawl space under the kitchen wing which had depressions deep enough to hide an adult. At the other end of the crawl space, a trap door gave access to the back pantry (where there had been an outside door). An opening in the ceiling of the pantry into the attic, with a hidden entrance into another attic, where a panel opened into the upstairs bedrooms, etc. Every area had two or more entance/exit points.

The Raisin Center Friends Assembly met here before they built a church. The upright portion of the house was built ca. 1850 to replace the old cabin, but as you pointed out, parts of the cabin were salvaged and reused. I believe the pit-sawn floor planks (1" x 10" x 16'2"), reused roughhewn timbers, and the 7 ft, 4 x 4 solid oak joists of the low-ceilinged living room wing, are from the cabin. The kitchen wing, which had some roof boards over 18" wide, appears to have been from an old building that had partially burned. It was moved perpendicular to the living room wing. One generation of cedar shakes in good condition on the roof of the living room wing, and under the rafters where the kitchen wing was attached, date it's addition at least several years later and it's floor boards had been replaced.

The Jerad Haviland farm was 1/2 mile north. A few years ago the owners awoke to find a large gaping hole in their driveway where the roof of an undiscovered underground room had caved in. The farm had been owned by the family of the current residents for about 50 years. Many farms had outdoor cellars or basement rooms for cool dark storage of potatoes, carrots, apples, blocks of ice, or meat, so their existance is not unusual or indicative of URR activity, unless they have supporting history and were hidden. But, such utilitarian storage areas could be used if needed, with crates of potatos providing "cover", literally and figuatively.

At an UGRR seminar held at Adrian College in 1998 in conjunction with Anthony Cohen's journey though the county, I learned that historical documents mentioned a house above a spring, near the R.R. trestle over the Raisin River, as a primary station in the area. The house (the 1st house east of Raisin Center on Kopke Rd.) was about 3/4 mile north of ours, matched the discribed location, and had a pond in the steep back yard, filled by a spring which flowed year around. A fireplace flanked by bookcases, formed a fake wall in the living room. The owners found the secret room accidently when the kids banged into the east bookcase and it swiveled. A panel in the back of an upstairs closet hid a stairway to a separate attic. The house has been burned (without being documented or photographed) so the new owners could put up a prefab house.

A "cave" dig into a hillside that had been used for UGRR on the Charles and Laura Haviland farm was shown on an old "freedom trail" educational hiking map for Boyscouts. By the 1960's the roof had caved in.

Those are sad examples why we need to educate people, and preserve, or at least document, the few sites that are original, while they still remain. And "No", we would never try to establish an UGRR conection to apply for a hand-out grant to fix up this old farmhouse; I know the difference between a documentary and a docu-drama. I didn't see a script or the finished product that NASA asked to film here for classroom use, but it would be logical to think that they using underground railroad history to encouragage students to learn astronomy.

Re the pigeons:
Were pigeons used to carry messages during that time? Yes.
Did some local people raise pigeons? Yes.
Why? unknown.
Were the local people involved in abolition activities? Yes.
Did any other UGRR particpants also have pigeons? Unknown... trying to find out.
Would their use for carrying communications have "made sense"? Yes. Positives- Using homing pigeons for brief, or urgent messages would have been speedier, more discreet, and safer, not dependent on train schedules, or money to pay the fare. Negatives- Training and caring for them. They would have to be returned. This neighborhood was full of "safe" houses, so, except for the incursion of occasional bounty hunters, keeping pigeons might have been more of a bother than a benefit.
Were those pigeons used in the UGRR activities? I have found nothing in writing. References to their use for ANY purpose is scant. Unless another UGRR particpant with ties to the Havilands also had pigeons, it's doubtful. That is why I posed the question to this group. I am assuming from your reaction that you have never heard of using homing pigeons for this purpose, and reject the notion.

I appreciate that you took the time to comment.

Anne

A few references:
Haviland, Laura S., "A Woman's Life Work"
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupid?key=olbp19002

Haviland, Laura Smith http://hall.michiganwomenshalloffame.org/

Chandler, Elizabeth http://hall.michiganwomenshalloffame.org/honoree.php?C=0&A=13~15~197~12

UGRR studies at Adrian College, Lenawee Co., Michigan - Dr. Kimberly Davis also lives in Raisin Twp.
http://www.adrian.edu/news/underground_cont.php
One of the many guest speakers at the seminar I attended in 1998 was Anthony Cohen
http://record.wustl.edu/2002/02-15-02/underground_railroad.html