Daisy Turner, c.1913 (Age 30), COURTESY OF GRAFTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY

African American Heritage

Explore Vermont's Black History

Over the centuries, Black Vermonters have had a profound impact on agriculture, owned businesses, held public office, fought alongside fellow citizens in major wars, and worked to make Vermont and the nation a better place.

Now visitors and Vermonters alike can learn about Black history and heritage in Vermont. The Vermont African American Heritage Trail explores their stories and those of some of their fellow Vermonters. The guide takes visitors to Vermont museums and cultural sites where exhibits, films, tours and personal explorations illuminate the lives of African Americans for whom the Green Mountain State was part of their identity. Visitors meet teachers, storytellers, activists, ministers and legislators who bring this important history to life.

VERMONT'S ROKEBY MUSEUM STEWARDS UNDERGROUND RAILROAD HISTORY

Ferrisburgh’s Rokeby Museum is a stop along the African American Heritage Trail, and celebrates Vermont’s history on the Underground Railroad, helping enslaved people find their way to freedom.  Visitors can tour the home and farm of Quaker abolitionists Rowland and Rachel Robinson and the multimedia exhibit that introduces two fugitives from slavery who were sheltered at Rokeby in the 1830s.

Vermont's Underground Railroad

In Vermont, fugitives from slavery were helped between houses by word of mouth and the strength of Vermont communities. Many settled in Vermont for good, enriching the state’s communities and economies.

Personal Histories

The Vermont African American Heritage Trail introduces visitors to just some of the stories of the people who made their homes in Vermont. Get to know them and learn about how they have enriched Vermont's history and heritage.

Support BIPOC-Owned Businesses

While you’re here, explore the diversity of Vermont’s small-business scene and support BIPOC-owned businesses.

Clemmons Family Farm

2213-2158 Greenbush Rd., Charlotte, VT 05445

The 148-acre historic Clemmons Family Farm is one of the largest African American farms in Vermont. As a heritage and multicultural center, the farm blends agriculture with African American and African American diaspoa arts and culture events and storytelling.

RUTLAND SCULPTURE TRAIL

636 Marble St., West Rutland, VT 05777

This downtown trail showcases works of marble carved by regional artists, including pieces honoring African Americans who were among the first to fight in the Civil War and Martin Henry Freeman, America's first black college president.

Vermont Folklife Center

88 Main St., Middlebury, VT 05753

The folklife archive houses the Turner Family Collection, consisting of audio and video recordings, photographers, and histories that detail the life of Daisy Turner, the daughter of ex-slaves who settled in Grafton in 1873. Daisy's captivating account covers slavery, plantation life, escape, the Civil War, battling racism, and creating a family center in Vermont.

Brandon Museum

4 Grove St. (VT RT 7), Brandon, VT 05733

Stephen A. Douglas, candidate for US president versus Abraham Lincoln in 1860, was born here in 1813, raised amid the town's early activities in the antislavery movement.

OLD CONSTITUTION HOUSE

16 North Main St., Windsor, VT 05089

On July 8, 1777, the Constituion of the "Free and Independent State of Vermont" was adopted here. This was the first constitution in America to prohibit slavery, promosing freedom for men over 20 years of age and women older than 17.

JOURNEY'S END

31 Townshend Rd., Grafton, VT 05146

Immerse yourself in the remarkable story of formerly enslaved Alec turner, and the family's powerful connection to the land in the hill farming community with visits to the Turner Hill Interpretive Center, Grafton History Museum, and Birchdale Camp at Journey's End.

HILDENE, THE LINCOLN FAMILY HOME

1005 Hildene Rd., Manchester, VT 05254

1905 home of Robert Lincoln, son of the Great Emancipator Abraham Lincoln and president of the Pullman Palace Car Company. The provocative exhibit "Many Voices" features a restored 1903 Pullman car and highlights the story of black porters who played a significant role in the company's success and the Civil Rights Movement.

Rokeby Museum

4334 U.S. Rt. 7, Ferrisburgh, VT 05456

The exhibit "Free & Safe: The Underground Railroad in Vermont" chronicles the stories of Simon and Jesse, two fugitives from slavery who found shelter in the 1830s at Rokeby. The story introduces the abolitionist Robinson family and explores the turbulent decades leading up to the Civil War.

OLD STONE HOUSE MUSEUM

109 Old Stone House Rd., Orleans, VT 05860

Tour the Old Stone House Museum and the impressive granite dormitory that accommodated 19th-century students under visionary leader Alexander Twilight, African American educator, preacher, and Vermont's first black legistator.

"We Can, We Will" Buffalo Soldiers: Ameican's first African-American Peacetime Regiments

Winooski United Methodist Church

24 W Allen St, Winooski, VT 05404

The UMC was the home church for many Buffalo Soldiers and their families from 1909 to 1913. Soldiers who retired in the area helped rebuild the church after a fire. Their descendants continue worshiping at UMC.

RIVER STREET CEMETERY & MARSH-BILLINGS-ROCKEFELLER NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK

54 Elm St., Woodstock, VT 05091

River Street Cemetery contains the graves of eight African American veterans of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment who fought for the Union during the Civil War. The national par offers ranger-and self-guided tours of Woodstock's Civil War and abolitionist history.

Interior room of the Justin Morrill homestead

JUSTIN S. MORRILL STATE HISTORIC SITE

214 Justin Morrill Hwy., Strafford, VT 05072

Justin Morrill sponsored the Land-Grants College Act, which granted public lands to universities. In 1890, the Second Morrill Act forbade racial discrimination in admissions policies for college receiving these federal funds.

To learn more about Vermont’s African American history, check out these books and archives:

The Swift-Stewart Research Center at the Henry Sheldon Museum in Middlebury holds a rich collection of materials that highlight the history of slavery and freedom as debated and experienced by 19th-century Vermonters. Also in Middlebury are the Middlebury College Archives that houses the collected letters of abolitionists Rowland Thomas (1796–1879) & Rachel Gilpin Robinson (1799–1862), and the Vermont Folklife Center’s audio recordings of Daisy Turner (1883-1988.) The Clemmons Family Farm, among Vermont's oldest and largest Black-owned farms, stewards a collection of storytelling and history of the African diaspora in Vermont, and The Vermont Historical Society has culminated a list of people and places that have impacted Vermont’s history, culture, and landscape.

Books of note include: Daisy’s Turner’s Kin: An African American Family Saga by Jane Beck (University of Illinois Press, 2015); Discovering Black Vermont: African American Farmers in Hinesburgh, 1790-1890 by Elise Guyette (University Press of New England, 2010); and Vermont Women, Native Americans & African Americans: Out of the Shadow of History by Cynthia Bittinger (The History Press, 2012); The Blind African Slave, or Memoirs of Boyrereau Brinch, Nicknamed Jeffrey Brace, by Jeffrey Brace as told to Benjamin F. Prentiss (edited Kari J. Winter, University of Wisconsin Presse, 2005).

AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE TRAIL

All historic markers, museums and stops on the Vermont African American Heritage Trail are highlighted in this map. Click any for directions. Explore just a few or all as you learn more about the Black Vermonters who made our state great.