With the FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) World Cup underway this is a good time to consider that in June 1993 the United States Soccer Federation recognized Gerrit Smith Miller of Peterboro, Madison County, NY, as the founder of the first organized soccer team in this country. [Read more…] about New York & America’s First Organized Soccer Team
Peterboro
The Early History of Glass Making in New York State
According to J. Leander Bishop’s A History of American Manufactures from 1608 to 1860 among the early settlers on Manhattan Island was a glass maker Jan Smeedes who is supposed to have been among the first to receive an allotment of land on the present [1880] South William Street between Wall and Pearl.
He probably carried on the business of glass making on the east side of the street just north of Hanover Square. This street formerly bore within the above limits the name of “the Glass maker’s street” and afterward Smee Street from its original occupant. [Read more…] about The Early History of Glass Making in New York State
Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A Revolutionary Life
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a singular leader, thinker, and organizer whose fight for women’s emancipation stretched from the 1840s to her death in 1902, a full fifth of America’s history. Yet her legacy is marked by controversy.
In a new biography, Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A Revolutionary Life (Basic Books, 2026) historian Ellen Carol DuBois paints a fresh portrait of this complex woman whose work helped make contemporary feminism possible. [Read more…] about Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A Revolutionary Life
Granola Inventor James Caleb Jackson on the Abolition Road
A firsthand account of the October 21, 1835 canal boat ride from Utica to Canastota – followed by a nine mile walk up the hill to Peterboro for an abolition meeting – was provided by James Caleb Jackson (1811 – 1895) from Oswego, NY.
On that day in October, 600 black and white abolitionists met in Utica, NY to the inaugural meeting of the New York State Antislavery Society. [Read more…] about Granola Inventor James Caleb Jackson on the Abolition Road
14th Annual Peterboro Emancipation Day Set for Saturday
The Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark will hold its 14th Annual Emancipation Day on Saturday, August 3 at 5324 Oxbow Road in Peterboro, Madison County, NY. The event commemorates the families that came from enslavement by replicating the Emancipation Days held by the generations of the 1920s and 1930s. [Read more…] about 14th Annual Peterboro Emancipation Day Set for Saturday
Ann Carroll Fitzhugh Smith: First Lady of Gerrit Smith Estate
Having been born in 1805 into a slave holding family in Chewsville, Maryland, Ann Carroll Fitzhugh Smith was well aware of the inequitable status between black and white persons, and of the horrible physical and mental treatment of enslaved people. Ann’s father William F. Fitzhugh operated a plantation worked by over sixty enslaved persons. [Read more…] about Ann Carroll Fitzhugh Smith: First Lady of Gerrit Smith Estate
Peterboro’s Dominie: Early Black Adventist John West
At least 147 African Americans are buried in the small Peterboro Cemetery in rural Madison County, New York. Among them is John West, whose headstone was toppled by a falling tree during a storm in August 2023. [Read more…] about Peterboro’s Dominie: Early Black Adventist John West
Walking The Historical Abolition Road
On October 21st 1835 six hundred abolitionists met in Utica, NY to form a state antislavery society. Twice the six hundred delegates were confronted by an angry mob and thrown out of the Bleeker Street Church.
Gerrit Smith invited the delegates to meet the next day in the safety of Peterboro, in Madison County, NY. Through the cold and rainy night three hundred men made their way to Peterboro up over the hill through Vernon Center. [Read more…] about Walking The Historical Abolition Road
Anti-Slavery, Abolition Heritage Sites Opening for Season
The Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark (GSENHL) and the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum (NAHOF) in Peterboro, Madison County, NY will open for the season on Saturday June 4th. [Read more…] about Anti-Slavery, Abolition Heritage Sites Opening for Season
The Destruction of Gerrit Smith’s Mansion
Historical research using old newspapers fascinates but also frustrates me. Had you read the March 5th, 1936 edition of The Cazenovia Republican you would have learned that the historic Gerrit Smith mansion in Peterboro, New York, burned to the ground two days earlier. [Read more…] about The Destruction of Gerrit Smith’s Mansion
‘Cradle of the Breed’: Gerrit Smith Miller & His Kriemhild Holsteins
On August 17th, 1929, the German airship Graf Zeppelin was attempting to encircle the world. Baseball fans were still marveling about how Babe Ruth had reached the 500 mark in home runs the previous Sunday at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio. The Great Bull Market of the 1920s was yet to crash.
None of these matters preoccupied Henry A. Strohmeyer, Jr., animal photographer, as he positioned himself and his camera to capture a picture of the man of the hour. Son of a famed expert in stereoscopic photography who made a career in capturing images of the estates of the wealthy, Strohmeyer had built his own reputation largely by taking pictures of cows and bulls. He was about to photograph Gerrit Smith Miller who at eighty-four was the oldest and most respected Holstein cowman in the country. [Read more…] about ‘Cradle of the Breed’: Gerrit Smith Miller & His Kriemhild Holsteins
Peterboro’s National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum
Members of the Cabinet of Freedom of the National Abolition Hall of Fame (NAHOF) went to the Great New York Fair for several years to introduce the public to a unique museum that occupies the second floor of the Smithfield Community Center in Peterboro, New York.
On one of these occasions, NAHOF occupied a booth in the Center of Progress building. Hundreds of fair-goers went by the NAHOF location. Some who stopped to hear about NAHOF would ask, “Where is Peterboro?” NAHOF hosts explained that Peterboro is a small hamlet in the heart of Madison County. Few who passed by stayed long enough to hear about what the Museum had to offer. NAHOF representatives began wearing t-shirts that carried the words “Where is Peterboro?” on the front and on the back were the words “North of Pleasant Valley, South of Clockville, East of Fenner, West of Salem.” [Read more…] about Peterboro’s National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum
Historic Building Housing Abolition Hall of Fame Marking 200 Years
Built as a Presbyterian Church in 1820, the 200 year-old Smithfield Community Center has also served as a school, and currently as the town municipal building and the home of the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum.
In 1835 the structure was the site of the inaugural meeting of the New York State Antislavery Society. [Read more…] about Historic Building Housing Abolition Hall of Fame Marking 200 Years
Ringing Bells for Equality Day August 26th
The Smithfield Community Association (SCA) in Peterboro, Madison County, NY, is set to ring the bell in the tower of the Smithfield Community Center (SCC) nineteen times on Wednesday, August 26th, to celebrate the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The Nineteenth Amendment stated that “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged…on account of sex.” The Peterboro United Methodist Church bell will join the SCC bell ringing. [Read more…] about Ringing Bells for Equality Day August 26th
Peterboro Emancipation Day Events Postponed to 2021
The 2020 Peterboro Emancipation Day planned for August 1st, 2020 has been rescheduled for Saturday, August 7th, 2021 at the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark.
The event will begin at 10 at The Barn on the Gerrit Smith Estate. After the morning assembly, songs, announcements, and the annual group photo, a processional to the Peterboro Cemetery will carry wreaths to lay on the grave of a person who was born enslaved, and died free. [Read more…] about Peterboro Emancipation Day Events Postponed to 2021
Madison Co Prepares for Women’s Suffrage Centennial
The Nineteenth Amendment (the right of citizens of the United State to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation) was passed by the House of Representatives on May 21, 1919 after its initial introduction in 1878. The Senate passed the Amendment on June 4, 1919. The 36th state needed for ratification did so on August 18, 2020, and the amendment was officially ratified on August 26, 2020. In 1973 Congress designated August 26 as Women’s Equality Day. [Read more…] about Madison Co Prepares for Women’s Suffrage Centennial
Peterboro Announces Black History Programs
Peterboro Heritage NY sites have announced Black History programs celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which was ratified February 3, 1870 stating The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. [Read more…] about Peterboro Announces Black History Programs
Watch Night Commemorates Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln presented his first draft of his Emancipation Proclamation to his Cabinet for critique and revision on July 22, 1862. Lincoln’s next submission of his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation was presented again to his Cabinet on September 22, 1862 announcing that in one hundred days the federal government would free all enslaved people in the states rebelling against the Union. [Read more…] about Watch Night Commemorates Emancipation Proclamation
Harriet Tubman A Focus in Peterboro August 3rd
The Tenth Annual Peterboro Emancipation Days have been set for August 3rd, at 9:30 am, at the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark, 5304 Oxbow Road in Peterboro.
Interior and exterior exhibits will be open including information on black freedom seekers who passed through Peterboro on their way to Canada, who stayed in Peterboro for lifetimes, who lived in Peterboro while working in the abolition movement, who served in the Civil War, and who came for an education at the Manual Labor School. There are also exhibits on the Underground Railroad, Gerrit Smith, and Greene Smith. [Read more…] about Harriet Tubman A Focus in Peterboro August 3rd
The Underground Railroad Escape of Harriet Powel
The Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark is set to hold a presentation on three African-American women who escaped slavery on the Underground Railroad: Harriet Powel, Harriet Russell, and Harriet Tubman, on Saturday, August 3rd, beginning at 1:15 pm. This event coincides with the Tenth Annual Peterboro Emancipation Days, being held on August 3rd and 4th. [Read more…] about The Underground Railroad Escape of Harriet Powel