The Land Office

The modest brick building served as the office and workplace of Gerrit Smith, one of the wealthiest land owners in New York State. It was built in 1804 by Gerrit’s father, Peter Smith, who acquired a large tract of land through his friendship with the Oneida Nation Chief Skenandoah. Gerrit worked in the building ten to twelve hours per day six days a week for fifty-five years. The land sales provided Smith with great wealth, which he used to support numerous reform causes, most prominently the abolition of slavery. Over 750,000 acres of land were sold within this building. The final land transaction there took place in 1994, when the Smithfield Community Association transferred ownership to the Town of Smithfield to be preserved as a public memorial and park. Land indentures, or deeds, were stored in the attached vault on the north side of the office, and the unattached small building was a smokehouse.

Smithfield, New York · United States