1800's Abolitionism in Northern New York new research by
Tom Calarco
The Chronicle Dec 10 1999
As we seek local evidence of the "Underground Railroad"
that helped smuggle fleeing slaves in the early 1800's to freedom in Canada, an
intriguing landmark is the sign at the intersection of Vaughn Corners and
Bentley Roads in the Town of Kingsbury. Long familiar to local residents, it was
commonly referred to in raw terminology as the "Niggerboard Sign"
Located about a mile from the Champlain Canal, which is
thought to have been a frequent route of slave escape, the sign at Vaughn
Corners depicts a caricature of a
black man in a black tuxedo and top hat, carrying a cane and pointing north, "4
& 1/2 miles to Fort Ann."
The current sign is not the original, cautions Fort Ann
historian Virginia Parrot. The sign duplicates one that hung here in the 1960s,
which in turn had replaced a simpler sign around 1930 that showed only a hand
pointing north.
I've been told the original sign was painted by a man
named Collins Doubleday whose family owned the nearby houses at least as early
as 1853, according to period maps.
Sterling Harrington, whose ancestors bought the house
from the Doubledays, said the sign originally was placed on an elm tree in the
middle of the intersection. There were two other signs on the tree; one directed
travelers to Smiths Basin, through which the canal passes.
Among the legends that have grown up in the neighborhood,
according to Parrot and others, is that a tunnel led from the Doubleday house to
a root cellar just a short distance away on Vaughn Road, and possible to other
nearby homes. I myself took a look in the root cellar, and it does appear that
there is a blocked opening that leads towards the Doubleday house.
Charles Willis, another local who grew up in Kingsbury,
said old-timers claimed they hid the fugitive slaves in the root cellar that I
was shown or in another one a little ways down the road.
Delilah Chesterman, who grew up in the Doubleday house,
offered another intriguing piece of folklore.
She said she used to ride her horse as a girl along a nearby trail that
led directly to Fort Ann and that was referred to by locals as "the Underground
Railroad."
The inherent secrecy of slave flight as well as the
passage o more than a century in time makes much of the information difficult to
verify.
Intriguingly, the 1853 map of Washington County shows a
house at the Vaughn Corners site belonging to a D. Doubleday. If anyone has more
definite information about the sign, please call the Chronicle and let us know.
We sure would like to get to the bottom of this.
ed. note: Long-time Chronicle freelancer Tom Calarco is immersed in researching the mid-1800's anti-slavery movement in Warren, Washington and Saratoga counties and the lower Adirondacks. We'll periodically publish chapters from this work in progress.
*We grew up seeing the "chair" all the time.
I didn't realize at the time we took this what it was. I thought it was just someone's holiday decorations. I've learned since that where these rocks are piled up is one of the "hole" where the slaves on the run hid. There are stone walls all over this area and unless you know what your are looking for they all tend to look alike.