Gerrit Smith, born in Utica on March 6, 1797, emerged from a family rooted in the New York fur trade, land dealings, and early settlement at Old Fort Schuyler and Peterboro to become a leading reformer in New York and the nation. After graduating from Hamilton College in 1818, he first gave $10,000 to the American Colonization Society in 1827, then turned decisively to antislavery work by financially supporting Beriah Green’s Oneida Institute in 1833, establishing a Manual Labor School for black males in Peterboro in 1834, helping make Peterboro the site of antislavery society meetings and conventions, and serving as president of the New York State Antislavery Society in 1836. He aided freedom seekers and black advancement in practical ways, including support connected to Harriet Powell’s escape route, donating 21,000 acres and $2,000 to Oberlin College in 1839, giving 120,000 acres in the Adirondacks in 1846 to free black males so they could meet New York State’s voting requirements for blacks, deeding land in Peterboro, backing integrated education, rescuing William Henry from jail in Syracuse in 1851 and helping get him to Canada, and requiring integrated use when he gave Oswego $25,000 for a library in 1853. Smith also helped found the Liberty Party in 1839 with James G. Birney, Myron Holley, and Alvan Stewart for the sole purpose of abolition; ran repeatedly for governor of New York and for president of the United States on Liberty Party, Liberty League, Industrial Congress, and National Abolition Party tickets; was elected to the U.S. Congress as an Independent in 1852; and in 1850 joined Frederick Douglas in organizing a convention at Cazenovia to protest the Fugitive Slave Bill while declaring in a letter that enslaved people must do all that is necessary to get free. Peterboro became a place where fugitive slaves were commonly seen as they moved north on the Underground Railroad, and through Smith’s persistent persuasive and exemplary efforts it became a crossroads for intercultural harmony and a local model for what an enlightened citizenry could accomplish. After his death in 1874, the estate’s later history included the 1936 burning of the mansion, preservation of the Land Office and surrounding property through citizen action, and recognition of the Gerrit Smith Estate as a National Historic Landmark and Underground Railroad site.