Gerrit Smith

Although not as popular of a response to “Where are we going?” these days as when we were kids, most people have heard the reply “To Timbuctoo!” Did you know Timbuctoo WAS a real place and it WAS located here in New York?

Gerrit Smith was an abolitionist who was born in 1797 in New York. He was a wealthy man who used his wealth and influence to help hundreds of Africans move through New York into Canada on the underground railroad.