A first-ever North Country Juneteenth celebration of the region’s role in the fight against slavery will highlight Underground Railroad work in the area, as well as prominent anti-slavery Quakers and abolitionist John Brown. Juneteenth is now a national and state holiday which celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. The “Colors of Freedom” tour will be a unique way for families and visitors alike to experience the struggles that took place in this area.

The June 19 “Colors of Freedom” tour will feature seven different stops with re-enactors, docents, and celebrations of the freedom spirit in Clinton and Essex counties. Sponsored by the North Star Underground Railroad Museum, John Brown Lives!, the Adirondack History Museum and the John Brown Farm State Historic Site, this event involves existing museums, exhibits at historic locations, and original re-enactments.

In addition to the tour, the documentary “Searching for Timbuctoo” will be shown at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts on Saturday, June 18, at 7 pm. The cost is $5 per person. Visit the Lake Placid Center for the Arts website for more information and to purchase tickets.

The Colors of Freedom tour begins at the North Star Underground Railroad Museum (1131 Mace Chasm Rd, Ausable Chasm, New York) at 9 am on June 19. You will visit the Evergreen Cemetery, Quaker Union and Stephen Keese Smith’s farm. Attendees will travel to Elizabethtown Courthouse to hear learn about John Brown’s trip to his final resting place at 1 pm. The final stop will be at 3 pm on the John Brown Farm which will be a celebration of Freedom with music and a display of Black Lives Matter.

“Working together, we are able to deliver a much more comprehensive view of Underground Railroad and abolition activity in the North Country than we’d be able to do on our own,” said Jackie Madison, President of the North Country Underground Railroad Historical Association and Martha Swan, Executive Director of John Brown Lives! “We look forward to celebrating Juneteenth with our neighbors and visitors to the region.”

Clinton and Essex counties were a center of the roiling abolition controversies before the Civil War, helping many freedom-seekers fleeing enslavement follow the Lake Champlain corridor to Canada in the 1830s, 1840s and 1850s. The tour will trace those controversies, ranging from Ausable Chasm, to Peru, to Elizabethtown, and then Lake Placid where Brown is buried.

The charge will be $10 a person, and $20 for a family pass. Pre-registration is required. The registration deadline is June 12. 

For more information or to register for the tour please click here: https://northcountryundergroundrailroad.com/forms/web/colors-for-freedom-tour-registration.php .

The “Colors of Freedom” tour is made possible, in part, by the Essex County Arts Council’s Cultural Assistance Program Grant with funding provided by Essex County.

For further information, please contact: Jackie Madison at ugr@frontier.com or 518-572-9552, or Martha Swan at mswan12993@gmail.com or 518-744-7112.