Our region of New York certainly has its share of "halls of fame" to visit. A couple of the most popular are in Cooperstown and Oneonta.
Then there are the fairly well-kept secrets. Some may not be aware that the National Abolition Hall of Fame is found in the generally quiet hamlet of Peterboro, in the town of Smithfield, Madison County.
Gerrit Smith, a widely known philanthropist and social reformer, made his home in Peterboro until his death in 1874. The Smith Estate is a National Historic Landmark site.
Smith's father, Peter Smith was one of the earliest settlers in Madison County. Peter Smith was in the land business, by which he became quite wealthy.
As a young man, Gerrit Smith worked alongside people held in slavery on his father's estate, as slavery wasn't abolished in New York until 1827. Apparently he grew sympathetic with the miserable lives of the African-Americans he met while in his youth.
Gerrit attended an academy in Clinton, which later became Hamilton College. Peter Smith eventually turned over the family land business to Gerrit, so by age 21 he became one of the largest landowners in New York. For the next 40 years, he would gradually dispense his vast property holdings. The value of his private benefactions was estimated at more than $8 million.
Smith became an active participant in various anti-slavery and temperance societies. He became disgusted with the forgiving posture of contemporary churches toward slavery, so he formed his own church in Peterboro, where he professed what he called the Religion of Reason.
Peterboro became a station on the Underground Railroad, with many fleeing slaves making their way northbound through the Unadilla Valley to get there and beyond. Smith furnished money for the legal expenses of people charged with infractions of the Fugitive Slave Law.
Smith was known to give land for farms to slave families, hoping to help them become self-sufficient and provide them with property ownership needed to vote in New York. Smith attempted to colonize about 120,000 acres of land in North Elba, near Lake Placid. The difficulty of farming in the Adirondacks, coupled with the settlers' lack of homebuilding experience and bigotry of white neighbors caused the overall experiment to fail. There were some settlers, including abolitionist John Brown and his family, who moved there to assist the former slaves.
Smith unsuccessfully made runs for the presidency in 1848, 1856 and 1860. Instead he served in Congress representing Madison and Oswego counties, as a Free-Soiler, and in an address declared that all men have an equal right to land, among other causes.
Smith played a role in starting the Civil War. He was a financial supporter of John Brown's military activity in Kansas known as the Pottawatomie Massacre, and was also implicated with Brown after Brown's effort to raid Harper's Ferry in Virginia. At the latter, Brown had hoped to create a haven for fugitive slaves and arm them. After the failed raid, Sen. Jefferson Davis unsuccessfully attempted to have Smith accused, tried and hanged with Brown.
After the Civil War, Smith remained active in reform efforts, including women's rights.
The Smithfield Community Center was built in 1820 as the Peterboro Presbyterian Church. It was here in 1835 that the first meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society took place. It seemed fitting that such an Abolition Hall of Fame should be founded here.
Beginning in 1992, a group of concerned citizens formed the Smithfield Community Association to preserve and promote the heritage of the town of Smithfield. The association began administering much-needed repairs to the Community Center and the Gerrit Smith Estate.
On Saturday, March 7, the Smithfield Community Center will be the site of a Gerrit Smith Birthday Celebration, an annual event. Contact the association for more details at mail@sca-peterboro.org or write to them at P.O. Box 42, Peterboro, NY 13134-0042.
On Monday: Oneonta got a better idea of how Interstate 88 would affect lives in 1969 and beyond.
City Historian Mark Simonson's column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the Depression and before. His Monday columns address history after the Depression. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or e-mail him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is
www.oneontahistorian.com.
