Henry Highland Garnet wrote to Frederick Douglass in 1848 that “There are yet two places where slaveholder cannot come, Heaven and Peterboro,” reflecting Peterboro’s acceptance of ethnic diversity and the wealth and influence of Gerrit Smith, which created a safe haven for fugitives from slavery. In the United States, enslaved people were treated as chattel property without hope of freedom, subjected to institutional ignorance and severe punishment, while the drive for freedom pushed many to escape. Although some northern states abolished slavery in the 1700s, New York State did not do so until 1827. Many escapees from slavery lived out their lives in Peterboro, and several tombstones in the Peterboro Cemetery read “Born a slave. Died a freeman” or “Born a slave. Died a freed woman.” John “Dominic” West was born enslaved in Maryland on December 25, 1816, came north on the Underground Railroad in 1853, kept a grocery store on the Gerrit Smith Estate, and was known at the Free Church of Peterboro as “The Dominie” for his beautiful singing voice; he died on Christmas Day 1868, and his gravestone reads, “Deformed in Body but Beautiful in Spirit.” Hanson Williams was born enslaved in Maryland in 1841, came to Peterboro by way of the Underground Railroad, was educated in the Peterboro school, enlisted in the 22nd New York Cavalry, attained the rank of Corporal, later worked as Gerrit Smith Miller’s foreman for 25 years, contributed to the success of Miller’s Holstein herd, and frequently represented the Town of Smithfield at district and county conventions. William “Billy” Smith was born into slavery near Richmond, Virginia; during the Civil War he was left in charge of Confederate cavalry horses and was captured by Captain Aaron Bliss of Peterboro and the 10th New York Cavalry, became Bliss’s camp servant, then after the war made his way to Peterboro on horseback, where he worked for the Bliss family and later for the Smiths and Millers, played banjo and tambourine for dances around Madison County, and died a widower on August 27, 1923, after which he was buried in the Peterboro Cemetery.