Gerrit Smith of Peterboro NY became an ardent abolitionist in 1835 when he witnessed 600 men being threatened and physically mobbed in Utica as they attempted to assemble on October 21, 1835, to address the need for the end of enslavement. Smith invited the 600 delegates to the safety of Peterboro. 400 delegates traveled from Utica to Peterboro through the hills of Vernon Center. 104 delegates rode an empty lumber barge on the Erie Canal from Utica to Canastota and then walked nine miles up the nine hundred feet of elevation to Peterboro. Thus, on October 22, 1835, the inaugural meeting of the New York State Antislavery Society was held in the Presbyterian Church in Peterboro. That building became a school and is now the Town of Smithfield municipal building and the home of the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum.
Gerrit Smith was considered to be among the wealthiest landowners in New York State. He believed that his wealth was a divine gift to give away and it pleased him most to purchase the freedom of enslaved persons. His fight against enslavement evolved from being an officer in the American Peace Society to doing “whatever it takes” to abolish slavery. When John Brown made his last trip to Peterboro in 1859, he convinced Smith and Franklin Sanborn, a house guest of the Smiths, to financially support Brown’s plan to raid the federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry to arm the enslaved for their escape to freedom. Smith and Sanborn were two of the “Secret Six” that supported Brown’s desire to free the enslaved. Smith’s support was $140,000 in today’s currency and was the largest monetary support of Brown.
On August 27, 2025, a John Brown kin came to Peterboro by way of an online sponsor campaign. This time John Brown supplied assistance to Smith! The October 11, 2025, reenactment of the 1835 convention is an educational event, as well as a major fundraiser for Smith’s legacy of the first state meeting of the New York abolitionists. That legacy seeks donors, and it was Alice Keesy Mecoy from Texas that sent the first sponsorship of $1835.00 (in honor of the year 1835). Brown supporting Smith. One good turn deserves another – even if it is 156 years later!
Mecoy is the great, great, grand-daughter of John Brown. On one of her visits to Peterboro she met with fourth graders from four local elementary schools during Living History Day to talk about her famous grandfather.
Registrations and sponsorships have opened at www.AbolitionRoad.org.
Registrants receive a long-sleeved tee shirt with the Abolition Walk logo.
The first 104 students who register to walk are free.
Information:
National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum
PO Box 55 5255 Pleasant Valley Peterboro NY 13134
NAHOFm1835@gmail.com www.NationalAbolitionHallofFameandMuseum.org 315.308.1890
Gerrit Smith (Artist Joseph Flores for National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum 2005)
Gerrit Smith, was one of the “Secret Six” who supported John Brown’s desire to help enslaved people to escape. In today’s currency Smith’s support of Brown would be approximately $140,000.
John Brown (Artist Joseph Flores for National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum 2007)
John Brown’s great, great, great grand-daughter Alice Keesey Macoy sponsored August 27, 2025, the Abolition Walk which reenacts Smith’s invitation to the abolitionists to come to the safety of Peterboro to form the New York State Antislavery Society.
(SCC Burdick)
The Smithfield Community Center in Peterboro NY – which was the site of the first meeting of the New York State Antislavery Society in 1835. It is the home of the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum to which Gerrit Smith was inducted in 2005 and Brown in 2007.
