Timbuctoo, New York

Timbuctoo was a short-lived farming colony of African-American homesteaders in the remote town of North Elba, New York, in the 1840s.[1] It was located near Lake Placid in the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York.[2] African Americans also settled in areas known as Negro Brook near Bloomingdale, and Blackville near Loon Lake, New York.

History

In 1846, New York State enacted a law that required free black men to own real estate worth at least $250 (this is equivalent to $7,700 as of 2019) or a house in order to be able to vote. This restriction only applied to free black men. Gerrit Smith, a wealthy abolitionist and land owner, gave away 120,000 acres of land to 3,000 black New Yorkers in 40 acre lots, creating the community of Timbuctoo. It created rural land ownership and self-sufficiency for black people as an alternative to urban city life; gave black men access to the right to vote, and was an alternative response to the influx of Irish and white immigrants competing for urban employment. [3][4][2][5][6] Rural life also served as a way to escape from the racist atrocities that many black people faced during this time, especially from bounty hunters looking for fugitive slaves and protection from slave traders who would kidnap and sell blacks back into slavery. It was also an alternative way to live due to the housing shortages and epidemics that plagued their neighborhoods.[2]

Frederick Douglass worked with Smith to promote the land distribution and recruitment to North Elba.[7][8][6] Smith wanted a certain type of person to inhabit Timbuctoo as they would be representing the masses. Some of the characteristics, that those who wanted to live in Timbuctoo, should possess included being completely sober, showing self-restraint, being responsible, having good morals, etc.[2][7]In 1848, John Brown moved his family to North Elba to support the development Timbuctoo.[9][10] Smith was a supporter of John Brown's antislavery activities was accused of supplying John Brown with guns for the 1859 raid on Harper's Ferry.[11][12]

In 1848, Gerrit Smith gave Willis Hodges, a free black man from Virginia, 200 acres to settle in the Loon Lake area with 10 families. The named it Blacksville. The community was disbanded after two winters due to harsh conditions. The difficulty of farming in the Adirondack region, coupled with the settlers' lack of experience in house-building and the bigotry of white neighbors, caused the Timbuctoo experiment to fail by 1855.[13]

Legacies of Timbuctoo inhabitants

Although Gerrit Smith proposed a good deal to those who were chosen to live in Timbuctoo, a lot of these families were not able to handle the transition from city life to rural farm life. Many of those chosen had previously worked in domestic professions and were not experienced farmers. Between 1850 and 1870 only thirteen families remained in the settlement and by 1871 that number dropped down to only two.[14]

Lyman Epps Sr.

Lyman Epps Sr. family were one the two families that managed to stay and thrive in Timbuctoo. Lyman became a leader of the community and helped to found the Timbuctoo the local sabbath school, the Lake Placid public library, and the Lake Placid Bapist church.[15] Epps was able to make a living by becoming a sheep herder and cultivating the land. His family lived in the area for over 100 years. Lynman Epps Sr. died at the age of eighty-three in 1897. The last member of the Epps family, Lyman Epps Jr died in 1942.[10]

John Thomas

John Thomas was born into slavery on the eastern shore of Virginia. He escaped up north in 1839 to Philadelphia before he continued onto Troy, NY. He married Mary Vanderhyden and they began a family in upstate New York.[16] John was one of the people to accept Gerritt Smiths offer for the land grant. As an escaped slave bounty hunters eventually came for him in the Adirondacks. Due to Smith's principals that helped found the settlement, many of the white men backed Thomas and warned the bounty hunters that they would protect him at all cost. They also warned that Thomas was armed and dangerous and would do anything to prevent being sold back into slavery. The bounty hunters left and never returned.[17] Unfortunately, like many of the families residing in Timbuctoo, Thomas did not live there very long. An 1880 U.S census says that he lived in Franklin, NY. He remained there for the rest of his life and died in 1894 at the age of eighty-three.[16]

Legacy

Unfortunately, there is no sign of Timbuctoo today.[2] You cannot find it on many maps that showcase the Adirondacks and none of the homes that blacks in the community resided in were historically preserved and have disappeared due to excavation.

In 2001, there was an exhibition called John Brown "Dreaming of Timbuctoo" which opened at the Adirondack Experience, formerly known as the Adirondack Museum. The exhibit documents the story of the Black homesteaders that were given land in the Adirondacks in the mid-1840s.[18][19][8][20]

In 2016 the John Brown Farm State Historic Site became the permanent home of the “Dreaming of Timbuctoo” exhibition.[21]

There is an annual Blues at Timbuctoo festival in Lake Placid. The festival is held at the historic John Brown Farm. It is presented by Jerry Dugger, and by the organization John Brown Lives. The festival is a combination of blues music and conversation around race relations. The festival was launched in 2015. Martha Swan is the current executive director of John Brown Lives.[22][23]

References
  1. "The Quintessential Black Farmer: Dreaming of Timbuctoo • GROUNDSWELL". 21 February 2012.
  2. Christian, Nichole M. "North Elba Journal; Recalling Timbuctoo, A Slice of Black History".
  3. "Timbuctoo story is worth revisiting - LakePlacidNews.com - News and information on the Lake Placid and Essex County region of New York - Lake Placid News". www.lakeplacidnews.com.
  4. "Dreaming and teaching of Timbuctoo - LakePlacidNews.com - News and information on the Lake Placid and Essex County region of New York - Lake Placid News". www.lakeplacidnews.com.
  5. "New Book: Blacks in the Adirondacks". 31 December 2017.
  6. "Black History in Saranac Lake - Saranac Lake, Adirondacks". www.saranaclake.com.
  7. "Dreaming Of Timbuctoo - Tang Museum". Tang Museum.
  8. Press-Republican, ROBIN CAUDELL. "Take 2 of 'Dreaming of Timbuctoo'".
  9. "John Brown "Dreaming of Timbuctoo" exhibition at Whallonsburg Grange July 3–9 - Lake Placid, Adirondacks". www.lakeplacid.com.
  10. "The History of Timbuctoo: An African-American Hamlet in the Adirondacks". www.adirondack.net.
  11. "John Brown and Timbuctoo Home Page". www.albany.edu.
  12. "John Brown's Farmhouse - Lot 95, Township 12 - UpstateHistorical". UpstateHistorical.
  13. Renehan, pp 17-18
  14. "Timbucto | Adirondack Experience: More than a Museum". Adirondack Experience. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  15. Museum, RJ Lara with research support from The Winterthur; Garden; Library; Delaware, the University of. "The Lyman Epps, Sr. Homestead - Southwest Corner of Lot 84, Township 12". UpstateHistorical. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  16. "John Thomas - Historic Saranac Lake - LocalWiki". localwiki.org. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  17. "Black History in Saranac Lake | Saranac Lake, Adirondacks". www.saranaclake.com. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  18. "African American History in the Adirondacks". 11 October 2016.
  19. (NCUGRHA), North Country Underground Railroad Historical Association. "NCUGRHA - People & Places - Essex County". www.northcountryundergroundrailroad.com.
  20. "The Making of an Exhibition". www.nyfolklore.org.
  21. "Parks & Trails New York :: Celebrating Juneteenth and Timbuctoo". www.ptny.org.
  22. "A Musical Conversation: Blues at Timbuctoo Fest returns to Lake Placid - Lake Placid, Adirondacks". www.lakeplacid.com.
  23. "Paul Smith's College VIC -- Dreaming of Timbuctoo Traveling Exhibition - 29 July - 10 September 2012". www.adirondackvic.org.

Further reading


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