Blog
Blog · December 18, 2025
A facsimile of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, a gift from the New York State Museum, will be on exhibit at the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum (NAHOF) at 11:00 am Wednesday, December 31 at 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro NY 13134. On September 22, 1862, following the Union victory at Antietam, President Lincoln issued the document ordering that in 100 days the federal government would deem all slaves free in those states still rebelling against the Union. The...
Blog · December 11, 2025
Wednesday, December 31, 2025, at 4 p.m. the Lingo Family Singers will present a special program at the Peterboro United Methodist Church at 5240 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro NY as a continuation of the 14th Annual Peterboro Watch Night held in the afternoon in Peterboro at the Smithfield Community Center, 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, and the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark, 5304 Oxbow Road, Peterboro NY. The evening will feature stirring selections from the Civil War era...
Blog · October 31, 2025
The Lingo Family Singers of Peterboro NY will reenact the Hutchinson Family Singers of Milford NH on Saturday, November 15 for the third program of four planned for the autumn by the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum in Peterboro NY. The selections for the holiday season will include Over the River and Through the Wood: A Thanksgiving Poem written by Lydia Maria Child in 1844 about her childhood memories in Massachusetts. Child was inducted into the National Abolition Hall of Fame in...
Blog · September 25, 2025
The first registration for the Fourth Annual Abolition Walk was from James M. Jackson from Amasa, Michigan, who wrote: 190 years ago, my great-great-great grandfather James Caleb Jackson was one of the 104 who made the trek from Canastota to Peterboro. Although I'd love to be around for the 200th anniversary, actuarial tables suggest that might be pushing my luck. Jim, his wife, sister, and children will be walking in the footsteps of his ancestor on Saturday, October 11, 2025, along the...
Blog · September 19, 2025
The Lingo Family Singers of Peterboro NY will enact the Hutchinson Family of Milford NH on four occasions this autumn. The Hutchinson Family (eleven sons and two daughters) began musical performances in the 1840s in their home state of New Hampshire. Their four-part harmony copied the touring Tyrolese Minstrels, but soon they started writing their own songs which addressed the reforms of abolition, emancipation, temperance, and women’s rights. The first Hutchinson group was three brothers and...
Blog · July 12, 2025
Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark 5304 Oxbow Road Peterboro NY 13134. Saturday, August 2, 2025 Each year the committee replicates activities that ancestors began in 1925 to commemorate the abolition of enslavement.
Blog · July 03, 2025
David Gellman to Speak on 2027 and New York Emancipation Friday, July 18th 7pm Via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85089518718?pwd=SoGtbMXjcHARgCOWa8eYMHK9WQGZZ0.1 This talk examines the impetuses and obstacles that produced a gradual abolition law in 1799 and, a generation later, that declared the end of slavery in New York State on July 4, 1827. This story of northern emancipation and its complicated legacy emphasizes the interplay between ideology and activism, enslaved and enslavers,...
Blog · June 27, 2025
Don't miss this Free Event 2:00pm at the Peterboro United Methodist Church 5240 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro NY 13134
Blog · June 19, 2025
Wednesday, June 25, 2025 at 4 pm Smithfield Community Center 5255 Pleasant Valley Road Peterboro NY 13134 Norman K Dann PhD closes the final program in series of eight two hour sessions on Wednesday, June 25, 2025 at 4 pm. The series has concentrated on the people affiliated with the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark in Peterboro NY. Cousins of Reform: Smith and Stanton describes the special relationship between Gerrit Smith and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Gerrit Smith’s mother...
Blog · June 19, 2025
Thursday 6/19/2025 @ 6:19pm - Peterboro United Methodist Church History of Juneteenth: Milton C. Sernett PhD, North to Freedom Film; Brian Frey WSKG Public Media Vestal NY Friday 6/20/2025 @7pm - Smithfield Community Center Enslavement After Emancipation Film and Discussion 13th Amendment Saturday 6/21/25 @9am - Smithfield Community Center Researching Underground Railroad Sites Matthew Urtz, Madison County Historian Judith Wellman PhD Wellman Scale Author Madison County Freedom Trail Commission...