PETERBORO, N.Y. — Martha Swan, founding director of John Brown Lives! in Lake Placid, will bring reports from the North Country to the Smithfield Community Center in Peterboro on Saturday, June 12 at noon.
During her program “The World that Made John Brown — and The World Yet to be Made,” Swan will review the many activities held throughout 2009 commemorating John Brown and Harpers Ferry.
Swan initiated and produced the "Dreaming of Timbuctoo" Traveling Exhibition that forced a re-thinking of Gerrit Smith’s antebellum “scheme of justice and benevolence” championing black voting rights and the redistribution of land to 3,000 free black New Yorkers. That “scheme” led Brown to settle in the Adirondacks and choose it as his final resting place. The work of John Brown Lives! has been featured in the New York Times, on National Public Radio and in newspapers and other media outlets across the state.
The John Brown program is part of the National Abolition Hall of Fame & Museum (NAHOF) Open House at 5255 Pleasant Valley Road in Peterboro, which will be held during the 18th annual Peterboro Civil War Weekend Saturday and Sunday, June 12-13. Members of the Cabinet of Freedom for the Hall of Fame will be at the abolition exhibit and the newly-installed audio-visual exhibit on the inaugural meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society held Oct. 22, 1835.
Peterboro Civil War Weekend is an educational and fundraising event sponsored by the Town of Smithfield, the Smithfield Community Association, and private donors. Proceeds from the event support the preservation and promotion of the heritage of the Town of Smithfield.
During the event, Peterboro re-lives the period of the mid-1800s when the hamlet held national recognition because of Gerrit Smith’s Underground Railroad station, the visitations of famous abolitionists and the connection with John Brown that sparked the war between the states.
Peterboro sites are on the Heritage NY Underground Railroad Trail and on the National Park Service Network to Freedom Underground Railroad Trail. New exhibits at four sites will be open. Saturday, June 12 hours for the event are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, June 13 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $7 for adults, $3 for ages 6–12, and free for children under 6. Admission to the to the special Civil War concert at 8 p.m. may be paid at the door. Parking is free.
For more information on Peterboro Civil War Weekend, call 315-684-9022 or visit: www.sca-peterboro.org
Source: "John Brown Program June 12 in Peterboro." Oneida Daily Dispatch online (May 21, 2010)
1 comment:
Thanks Lydia!
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