Upcoming Events 2026

June 6-7
​
National Abolition Hall of Fame & Museum
Opening Weekend 2026​

Open Saturday and Sunday
June 6 to October 25
12:00-4:00pm

​5255 Pleasant Valley Rd
​Peterboro, NY 13134

​June 16 ~  Concert
​Songs of Slavery and Emancipation

Experience Songs of Slavery and Emancipation performed by Dr. Kathy Bullock,
Mat Callahan, Yvonne Moore and the Berea Singers, bringing history into the present.

​FREE and open to the public. Pre-registration suggested

7:00 pm
Hope Chapel
751 South St, Utica, NY 13501
​

June 19 ~  The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition
Presentation by author Manisha Sinha

FREE and open to the public
Pre-registration suggested

7:00 pm
​Catherine Cummings Theater
22 Lincklaen St, Cazenovia, NY 13035

June 20-21 ~ I Love NY Path Through History Weekend #1 ​

Visit NYS Museum and Heritage Sites

July 5​ ~ “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
written by Frederick Douglass, July 5, 1852

Presentation: Owen Corpin and Dr. Norm Dann
Book sales available

Save the date! Details coming soon

July 19 2pm ~ "Brothers in Spirit: Mutual Influence Between Frederick Douglass and  Gerrit Smith"

Dr Norm Dann will present a program on his new book
​
2:00pm
Smithfield Community Center
​5255 Pleasant Valley Rd
​Peterboro, NY 13134

August 1 ~  16th Emancipation Day

Vanessa Johnson, Underground Railroad Storyteller
​
Smithfield Community Center
​5255 Pleasant Valley Rd
​Peterboro, NY 13134

Program details coming soon!

Save the Date!
Details coming soon

August 23 ~ Fugitives, Friends and the Fight for Freedom 
​Multimedia presentation by ​Jeffrey M. Davis
​
The gripping true story of how Syracuse, NY became the front line of resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 — and what it means for us now.

Peterboro's own Gerrit Smith was a driving force in that resistance — a vital ally of Jermain Loguen and Rev. Samuel Joseph May in the fight against the Fugitive Slave Law and the network that defied it.
Join Jeffrey M. Davis—Boston writer and third great-grandson of Rev. May—for a gripping multimedia journey through stories of courage and defiance. From harrowing escapes on the Erie Canal to the dramatic "Jerry Rescue" in Syracuse, NY, you'll meet the women and men who refused to bow to injustice.

Smithfield Community Center, 5255 Pleasant Valley Rd, Peterboro, NY 13134

October 10-11 ~ I Love NY Path Through History Weekend #2 ​

Visit NYS Museum and Heritage Sites

October 9 ~ Oneida County Freedom Trail Walking Tour

​Oneida County Freedom Trail
​Mechanix Hall, Utica, NY

​Featuring the Lingo Singers, Jan DeAmicis
Save the date! ​Details coming soon

October 10 ~ Fifth Annual Abolition Walk

Walk with us and trace a portion of the footsteps of 104 abolitionists who escaped an angry pro-slavery mob in Utica in October, 1835, embarked on an Erie Canal barge to Canastota, and climbed the hills to Peterboro where they formed
​the New York State Antislavery Society.

Registration and schedule coming  soon.

abolitionroad.org

October 24 ~ Hall of Fame Induction 2026

Save the date!
Inductees and details coming soon