Vermont's African American population, although historically relatively small, has a long history in the Green Mountain State. Sites along the Vermont African American Heritage Trail spotlight Vermont’s deep, lively Black history, from Underground Railroad and Civil War roots to the present day. The Vermont African American Heritage Trail explores the lives and stories of African Americans in Vermont, and those dedicated to issues of freedom and equality.
It takes you to historic and cultural sites where actions, events, and individuals significant to African American history and civil rights are remembered. These places feature exhibits, roadside markers, films, and tours that illuminate the lives of African Americans in Vermont, the Green Mountain State, and in the North Country of the neighboring Empire State, New York. The Vermont African American Heritage Trail is a continuous effort to recognize, document, and share the important Vermont sites touched by inspiring African Americans and those who fought for the abolishment of slavery and the establishment of civil rights.
Black history in Vermont includes some of the major events and personalities of Black history in America. The Underground Railroad passed through the Champlain Valley. Famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass delivered impassioned speeches in the state. The son of the Great Emancipator lived in a Vermont house that to this day hosts discussions about the inequalities of race in America.
There are also the quieter stories of Black history in Vermont. A Chittenden County farm became one of the largest African-American farms in the state. A small African-American community thrived in southern Chittenden County starting in the late 1700s. Consider visiting some of these sites in February to celebrate Black History Month. You might also want to keep them in mind to travel to when the weather is warmer and more of these sites are open, with the idea that Black history is a topic for every month of every year.
Explore this historical site in Manchester, by skis. Want to explore the Vermont African American Heritage Trail in a COVID-safe, outdoorsy way?
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Early Abolitionist Roots
Did you know that Vermont was the first state to ban slavery, doing so in its 1777 Constitution? From 1777 to 1791, the constitution of the independent republic of Vermont explicitly prohibited slavery for adults reaching a certain age; that prohibition became part of the VT Constitution when it joined the union in 1791 as the 14th state.
In response to abolitionists' calls across the colonies to end slavery, Vermont became the first colony to ban it outright. Not only did Vermont's legislature agree to abolish slavery entirely, it also moved to provide full voting rights for African American males. Vermont's July 2, 1777 action was undoubtedly a historic event.
Dinah, Lucy Terry Prince, and Abijah Prince were formerly enslaved people who advocated for financial and land rights in Vermont’s courts. Dinah’s enslavement by VT Supreme Court Justice Stephen Jacobs was disavowed by his fellow justices when they reaffirmed the provision prohibiting adult slavery in the VT Constitution in 1802. Lucy Terry Prince was the first known African American poet in the United States; she wrote a ballad recording the 1746 attack on Deerfield settlers.
In the 1830s, Vermont’s residents were actively involved in the fight for the immediate emancipation of slaves across the nation. The first statewide antislavery society was established in 1834. With a few years, 10,000 of Vermont’s 290,000 residents had become members of a local or state antislavery society.
Many enslaved people risked travel to Vermont on the Underground Railroad, whose safe houses reached northward to freedom in Canada. Rokeby, the 1793 farm of Quaker Thomas Robinson in Ferrisburgh, is the best documented Underground Railroad safe house in Vermont.
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During the Civil War, 152 Black Vermonters served in the Union Army. That includes George Hart, a freed slave who joined the Massachusetts 54th Regiment, which is recognized as the first all-Black regiment formed for the Union Army.
Alexander Twilight attended Middlebury College. Twilight became the first African American to serve in any state legislature when he was elected in 1836 to the VT General Assembly. Justin Smith Morrill was the longest-serving member of Congress for its first 160 years and his Strafford homestead was the first National Historic Landmark in Vermont.
Between 1870 and 1920, Vermont’s African American population grew steadily as newly freed people from the South began migrating north and foreign-born immigrants chose to settle in Vermont. By the 1910s and 1920s, African Americans represented 0.5 percent of the state's population, remarkably the highest in history until that time, according to historian Elise A. Guyette.
Yet, there was limited equality between white and African American residents throughout New England. Green Book listings in the state of Vermont were relatively few.
The Vermont African American Heritage Trail
On January 15, 2013-Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday-the cultural trail was unveiled. The Constitution House serves as a reminder of Vermont’s evolution in the abolitionist movement. Today, the heritage trail includes 30 sites around Vermont and the New York-side of the Champlain Valley, said Reed.
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The Vermont African American Heritage Trail is a continuous effort to recognize, document, and share the important Vermont sites touched by inspiring African Americans and those who fought for the abolishment of slavery and the establishment of civil rights. Sites along the Vermont African American Heritage Trail spotlight Vermont’s deep, lively Black history, from Underground Railroad and Civil War roots to the present day.
These places feature exhibits, roadside markers, films, and tours that illuminate the lives of African Americans in Vermont, the Green Mountain State, and in the North Country of the neighboring Empire State, New York. The Vermont African American Heritage Trail is a continuous effort to recognize, document, and share the important Vermont sites touched by inspiring African Americans and those who fought for the abolishment of slavery and the establishment of civil rights.
The idea of the trail was as the bait… that would say to folks of color-around the country, if not around the world-that Vermont is a destination. They [Governor Shumlin and his team] loved the idea [of the Heritage Trail] because it meant dollars, [it] meant attracting a whole new demographic to the state, and that was 2010. So 2010, ’11, and ‘12, the [Vermont] Department of Tourism and I worked on the trail, the contours. We had already identified 95 sites, but they were not all suitable for what we wanted to do, which was you needed to have something that you could touch, something that was documented.
The Agency [of Commerce and Community Development] saw the immediate benefit to the economy by drawing more tourists to the state, those that are interested in cultural tourism,” said Reed in a Zoom interview. At the 30,000-foot level, what we’re working with is trying to make Vermont the most inclusive and equitable destination in the nation. And when we drop down to about 20,000 feet, our mission statement is how do we make Vermont the most desirable destination for People of Color?-be they tourists, convention goers, outdoor enthusiasts, [or] entrepreneurs.
The Vermont African American Heritage Trail explores the lives and stories of African Americans in Vermont, and those dedicated to issues of freedom and equality. It takes you to historic and cultural sites where actions, events, and individuals significant to African American history and civil rights are remembered.
Located on this 595-acre property are the homestead site and five acres that previously belonged to Alexander ‘Alec’ Turner. Turner, a former slave, moved to Grafton in 1892 and made a living as a logger and sawmill worker. On site, you’ll find rock foundations and agricultural remnants, two cellar holes, and stone walls that remind us of Turner’s accomplishments.
The landscape is comprised of a typical hardwood forest and a plateau that overlooks the Saxtons River. There are no established trails on the property, but hiking, walking, and snowshoeing are popular activities. Because beavers are active under the ice, its thickness is unpredictable; for your safety, stay off the ponds and streams.
In the meantime, we’ve compiled a few ways to explore the heritage trail now with nearby hikes, trails, and walking tours. I will strongly encourage everyone to visit all sites on the trail. I’ll also talk about the challenges of attracting a more diverse tourism base and how it’s not as easy as it would appear to be. Because it’s wintertime, [most] of the sites are all closed. But we will see this upcoming tourism season. Last season, no one traveled. All the sites were closed.
Sites along the Vermont African American Heritage Trail spotlight Vermont’s deep, lively Black history, from Underground Railroad and Civil War roots to the present day.
The Rokeby property, located on Route 7 in Ferrisburgh, was home to four generations of the Robinson family. This family included Quaker farmers and abolitionists who opened their home to escaped slaves traveling north through the Underground Railroad. While the museum is currently closed for the season, it offers virtual programs, a book group, and-our favorite-free walking trails.
The trails and parking area are currently accessible and offer views of the two ponds and waterfall. Plan ahead: Bathroom facilities are closed. View the trail map here. The museum buildings will reopen May 9 through October 25.
In 1905, Robert Lincoln (son of Abraham Lincoln) built his home in Manchester while serving as president of the Pullman Palace Car Company. The train car manufacturer became the largest employer of African Americans in the country by the 1900s. The 412-acre estate, which housed three generations of the presidents’ descendants, includes 12-miles of walking trails that are available year-round.
Visitors can explore 600 feet of floating boardwalk through the Battenkill wetland, an observation platform for the bobolink sanctuary, and the 1903 Pullman Car, Sunbeam. Staff recommend snowshoes and/or skis for your exploration around the trails and estate, but pets are not allowed. Plan ahead: Pets are not allowed on the trails. Bring your snowshoes or skis for easier access on trails and around the estate; rentals available. Restrooms are accessible, and the museum is open for self-guided tours; face masks are required.
The national historical park also includes 12 miles of groomed trail as part of its Nordic trail network; you can purchase a ski or snowshoe pass at the Woodstock Nordic Center on Route 106. There are also four miles of multi-use trails available to walkers, free of charge. Plan ahead: Find your winter trail map here. Pets are allowed; pet waste must be carried offsite. All park buildings are currently closed, and no in-person programming is scheduled.
The Turner Hill Interpretive Center at Journey’s End, along with the Grafton History Center and Birchdale Camp, tell the story of Alec Turner.
Hands down, it is Grafton, Vermont. The Turner Wildlife Reserve and the Turner family’s homestead-it is all the things that Vermont stands for. [There was] one woman with a strong voice, Daisy Turner. Her father, Alec, was a real, kind of grit, salt-of-the-earth guy; [he] eked out a living both as a logger, farmer, and hunter. The family was also really involved in local politics. They believed in the judicial system to defend their rights, and Daisy had gone to court a couple times and won cases.
The 148-acre historic Clemmons Family Farm is one of the largest African American farms in Vermont.
Occasionally overlooked as part of Vermont’s history are the African Americans who made Vermont their home. Many of Vermont’s early African-American citizens left behind little documentation of their lives. But in the case of former slaves Alec and Sally Turner of Grafton, much is known. Alec, a descendant of an African chief and an English merchant’s daughter, was born into slavery in Port Royal, Va. After the war ended, Turner and his family lived in Maine and Boston before settling in Grafton in 1872. Alec worked as a logger and in a sawmill, and raised money to purchase three lots that eventually totaled 150 acres of land.
Today, visitors can learn about Turner family history at the Grafton History Museum, walk the streets of the village, and visit the church where the Turner family worshiped. At the 595-acre Turner Hill Wildlife Management Area, visit the location where the family once lived.
Robert Lincoln, the son of President Abraham Lincoln (“the Great Emancipator"), was president of the Pullman Palace Car Co. when he moved to southern Vermont in the early 1900s. “The site’s 1903 Pullman Car and ‘Many Voices’ exhibit highlight the history of the company and the story of the Black Pullman Porters,” according to the Vermont African American Heritage Trail brochure.
Sites to Explore
Here are some sites in Vermont to explore its African American history:
- Rokeby Museum (Ferrisburgh): A farm run by the Robinsons, a Quaker abolitionist family, who opened their farm to runaway enslaved people. They also taught fugitives how to read and write. The Rokeby was an important part of the Underground Railroad.
- Hildene, the Lincoln family home (Manchester): The 1905 home of Robert Lincoln, son of Pres. Abraham Lincoln and president of the Pullman Palace Car Company.
- Justin S. Morrill State Historic Site (Strafford): Home of the senator who lived in a brightly toned Gothic Revival home in Orange County sponsored an 1890 act to prevent racial discrimination in admissions policies for colleges receiving federal funding.
- Rutland Sculpture Trail: The sculpture trail in this central Vermont city covers many sites and stories, some of which highlight Black history in the region. The trail displays depictions of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment that included Black soldiers from Vermont as well as a bust of Martin Henry Freeman, an abolitionist, educator and first African-American college president (at the all-black Allegheny Institute).
- Turner Hill Wildlife Management Area (Grafton): Visit the location where the Alec Turner family once lived.
Turner Hill Wildlife Management Area
Middlebury College was the first institution to grant an honorary degree and a Bachelor of Arts to men of African descent and was the first to graduate a Black man and a Black woman, according to the brochure for the Vermont African American Heritage Trail. The town, the brochure reads, was the site of the founding of the Vermont Anti-Slavery Society.
In 1804, Middlebury College awarded Lemuel Haynes, the first Black man to be ordained in America with an honorary degree. Frederick Douglass spoke at Middlebury College in 1843, but was disappointed by the low turnout. Martin Freeman was the first Black professor in the United States of America.
Alexander Twilight attended Middlebury College. Twilight preached in Vergennes and in Ferrisburgh, which are both near Swift House Inn. Martin Freeman was another notable African American student of Middlebury College. She gave the poem at Middlebury College commencement class of 1899.
Discovering Black Communities
African Americans established and maintained a thriving farming community in Hinesburg from 1795 to 1865. Other towns with sizable Black populations included Bennington, Woodstock, Windsor, and Ferrisburgh, along with cities like St.
