Guided tours will follow program on 1850 Cazenovia Convention

Cazenovia Heritage is finalizing plans for A Remembrance of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law Cazenovia Convention to be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 21, 2021, at the Cummings Theatre, 18 Lincklaen St., Cazenovia. Retired Madison County Judge Hugh C. Humphreys will return to Cazenovia to share his research for his 1994 publication on the The Great Fugitive Slave Law Convention and its Rare Daguerreotype, of which the Madison County Historical Society has ordered new printings that will be available for the Aug. 21 occasion.

Following the conclusion of Humphrey’s presentation, guided tours of five sites within a short distance of one another in the village of Cazenovia will begin. Five tour groups will form on the sidewalk in front of the Cummings College Theater based on the first letter of the attendee’s last name. Tour guides will lead groups to the five sites where a site docent will explain the history of the site and its relevance and significance to the Convention. The sites are the Cazenovia College Theater, the original site of the convention on which the Free Congregational Church stood; the site of the Ezra Weld studio on Mill Street, where the famous daguerreotype was created; the Tavern on the Village at Cannon Park, where Frederick Douglass and Gerrit Smith reportedly stayed; the site of Grace Wilson’s apple orchard on Sullivan Street, where the convention was moved to better accommodate the crowds; and Grace Wilson’s home, also on Sullivan Street.

Groups will begin at different sites, but all will be visited, and all should be completed in about an hour. A map will be provided in the program’s brochure for those who choose to walk independently.

The August 21 event has been arranged in collaboration with the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum, 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro, NationalAbolitionHallofFameandMuseum.org; and the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark, 5304 Oxbow Road, Peterboro, gerritsmith.org, For more information, contact Cazenovia Heritage at P.O. Box 103, Cazenovia, N.Y. 13035, cazheritage.org info@cazheritage.org.

By martha

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