New York Almanack

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Vermontville

Black Adirondack Farmers, Escaped Slaves, Civil War Veterans, Remembered at Union Cemetery

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Curt Stager leads a group of two dozen people in a rendition of John Brown’s Body while playing the banjo in Union CemeteryCurt Stager’s scholarly demeanor cracked on July 4th when he spread three small plastic baggies of soil on three graves of Black Adirondackers at Union Cemetery on state Route 3 in Vermontville, Franklin County, NY.

Stager didn’t know any of these people personally. They all died in the late 1800s. But in researching their lives, Stager, a Paul Smith’s College biology professor, said he’s become immensely respectful of their fights for freedom for all Americans, on the battlefield, or at home. [Read more…] about Black Adirondack Farmers, Escaped Slaves, Civil War Veterans, Remembered at Union Cemetery