{"nrhp_refnum":"97001386","name":"Smith, Gerrit, Estate","other_names":["See also:Peterboro Land Office"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Jct. of Main and Nelson Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Peterboro","county":"Madison County","state":"NY","lat":42.968155605500044,"lon":-75.6863081161882,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1997-11-24","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"2001-01-30","areas_of_significance":["Black","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 7.78-acre historic estate district in the hamlet of Peterboro, Madison County, New York, about 25 miles east of Syracuse. It was the home and base of Gerrit Smith and includes an 1804 Land Office, a barn, a laundry, the mansion site and landscape remains.","why_significant":"The estate was the home of abolitionist and reformer Gerrit Smith and is tied to his Underground Railroad activity, with the barn reportedly used to hide fugitives from slavery. The Land Office was the centre of the Smith family's vast land business. The grounds retain archaeological potential and a largely unchanged hamlet setting.","narrative":"Set in the quiet hamlet of Peterboro, this 7.78-acre estate was the home base of Gerrit Smith, a nineteenth-century reformer and abolitionist. Once a village-like complex of about thirty buildings, it now retains a brick Land Office and smokehouse built in 1804, a mid-century timber-framed barn, a laundry building, and the site of the mansion, which burned in 1936. The Land Office held records of the Smith family's extensive land holdings in New York and other states. Accounts say the barn sheltered people escaping slavery, and the laundry reflects the work of Harriet Russell, who was freed by Gerrit and Ann Smith in 1841. Ruins, garden walls, an iron fence, a limestone dam and wooded and open grounds add archaeological and landscape interest. A nearby house called the lodge is altered and does not contribute. The surrounding hamlet has changed little since the mid-nineteenth century, which preserves the estate's setting. The period of significance runs from 1819 to 1874.","period_of_significance":"1819-1874","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Early Republic/Federal; Mid-19th Century/Other: Board and Batten, Rustic/Chalet","criteria":[],"status_note":"The Land Office was in a condition assessment in 1994; the barn is in fair condition and used for storage; the laundry is in poor condition; the mansion burned in 1936. The form lists current use as single dwelling and vacant.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:39.124172-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/97001386_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97001386/a25a0529a9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97001386/a25a0529a9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Lvklock","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gerrit_Smith_Estate_Gate.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Lvklock</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gerrit_Smith_Estate_Gate.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75315795","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrit_Smith_Estate","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5552592"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/madison-county/smith-gerrit-estate-97001386/"}