Life in the 1800s was a particularly fraught time for African Americans. The south was, of course, rife with slavery. Even in the north, where there was no slavery for parts of the century, there were still lynchings, strict rules on who was allowed to vote, and other atrocities. In the 1850s, a group attempted to make conditions more equal by forming a rural haven for African Americans. Within 20 years, the place was down to just two families inhabiting it and it had pretty much become a ghost town in New York. Today, most people don’t even remember that this town ever existed.

Gerrit Smith was a wealthy politician who was a firm abolitionist. Like many social reformers, he was outraged by the passing of a New York state law in 1846 that required free black men to own real estate worth at least $250 in order to vote.
Matthew Brady/Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons
The law only applied to black men and was a thinly veiled attempt at preventing African Americans from voting. Smith gave away more than 120,000 acres of land to 3,000 black New Yorkers. Each family got 40 acres, giving them the right to vote, an area to live, and also providing the opportunity to learn valuable farming skills.
Several small communities were formed from the land that Smith gave away. One near what is today North Elba was the small town of Timbuctoo.
Susan Waters/Google Maps
Smith worked alongside famed social reformer Frederick Douglass to choose families to live in Timbuctoo. Smith wanted to make sure the citizens of his little town were upstanding so as to not destroy the project with poor publicity.

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Sadly, the experiment at Timbuctoo and the other nearby communities was an abject failure. By 1855, there were only around a dozen families remaining at the colony.
New York State Parks, Receration, and Historic Preservation: John Brown Farm State Historic Site
Rural life was a particularly difficult adjustment for the residents relocated from the city. The land was not particularly great for farming and they suffered discrimination from their white neighbors.
Joel Indorf/Google Maps
Today, the only building that remains standing from Timbuctoo is the John Brown Farm State Historic Site. Brown's grave is located on the property and they have a permanent exhibit with information about the colony.
Maurice Forrester/Google Maps

You can find out more about the John Brown Farm State Historic Site on the New York State Parks website.

Were you familiar with this colony from New York history? We absolutely love learning about the Empire State. Let us know in the comments what historical stories you’d like to see featured next!

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