The Landing at Lewiston, New York--"most historic square mile in America"

by Kathleen L. Maher

Lewiston makes a bold boast among all the towns with rich history in these United States by claiming to have the most historic square mile in America. My mind races to places like Yorktown, Gettysburg, Lexington, and Washington. Surely Lewiston can't beat the events of historical significance that occurred in these famous places. Who has ever heard of Lewiston, anyway? (Pat Iacuzzi and Debra Marvin, shhhhhh--we already know you know-- :D ).

From the ancient to the present, Lewiston on the Niagara has seen plenty of significant action throughout the years. Artifacts from 7000 years ago trace indigenous dwellers to the area, and Iroquoian speaking people have left a mark for over 600 years.  The Tuscarora, who would be welcomed in the 1800's as the sixth sister in the Iroquois confederacy, had a village here before the Revolutionary War, Yehęwakwáʼthaʼ.

Known simply as the Landing since the earliest whites came--French fur traders from Canada in 1600's--the village was the first European settlement in Western NY in 1720. Lewiston's current name comes from Morgan Lewis, a 19th century governor of New York.

Lewiston shines when it comes to War of 1812 history. It was the launching point of the first major battle of the war, the Battle of Queenston Heights, detailed in my previous post. New York State Militia crossed the Niagara River into Canada October 13, 1812. The Americans lost that battle, and in December 1813, the British burned Lewiston to the ground in retaliation for that initial strike. Civilians were attacked and killed, the city was in chaos, while the American militia skedaddled.


All would have been lost if not for the astonishing heroism of the Tuscaroras. They came from their nearby village as soon as they saw the smoke rising from the Landing, rushing to the aid of the citizens fleeing through slush and muck from the marauding British. Though surrounded 30 to one, the Tuscarora stood alone. One detail came around the British at the escarpment blowing horns, making the illusion of superior numbers, while another detail attacked with war whoops from the heights. This created a delaying action that allowed scores of women and children to escape with their lives.

A memorial to the bravery of the Tuscarora tribe will be unveiled in Lewiston on December 19 of this year, marking the 200th anniversary of these "Tuscarora Heroes." For more info on the beautiful commemorative sculpture planned, see: http://lee389.wix.com/tuscaroraheroes.

Lewiston also boasts the first recorded railway in the United States. "The Cradles" as they were called, were built in 1764 by a British Army engineer named John Montresor, and were a series of wooden rails on which loads of goods were raised by rope over the Niagara Escarpment.

Freedom Crossing monument

In the 1800's slaves escaped to freedom into Canada along routes bringing them through Lewiston as they departed the US.

The Frontier House was the furthest outpost of civilization west of the Hudson, offering distinguished travelers fine accommodation since 1824. Many famous people have stayed at the Frontier House, including President McKinley, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Henry Clay, and Daniel Webster.

Frontier House facing the Niagara

From ancient times through the Colonial period and the 19th century, this little village situated near Niagara Falls packs a lot of history per square mile. If you're ever sightseeing at the Falls, make sure to leave a bit of time in your itinerary for Lewiston, and judge for yourself if you think its boast has bang or just all brag.

Tea Party for Jennifer Hudson Taylor and Elaine Marie Cooper

Mendenhall Plantation (used by permission of Historic Jamestown Society)

Welcome, all, to Colonial Quills’ virtual Tea Party, being held today at the historic Mendenhall Plantation in Jamestown, North Carolina. Elaine Marie Cooper hostessing here, along with Kathleen Maher. The very special event we are celebrating today is the release of Jennifer Hudson Taylor’s newest historic romance, Path of Freedom, which is set in this very locale in the year 1858.

Jennifer’s exciting new missive journeys with the brave men and women of the pre-Civil War era who, at the risk of their own lives, attempted to help the African American slaves escape to the north through the Underground Railroad. Her novel involves a young Quaker man and woman who decide to put their personal differences aside to save the life of a pregnant slave couple. With only a quilt as their secret guide, the foursome follows the stitches through unknown treachery. It is a novel of love, faith, and forgiveness.

Here at the Mendenhall Plantation in North Carolina, there is no official documentation of it being a station for the Underground Railroad. But according to Shirley Haworth, President of Historic Jamestown (NC) Society, “we knew that the activity was all around our area.” Ms. Haworth explains that the likely reason there were no official records was the danger: Smuggling slaves was illegal and you were either fined, imprisoned or both.

Jennifer Hudson Taylor is pictured here at the plantation doing her research for this wonderful novel published by Abingdon Press. She is photographed in front of one of the specially designed wagons that were fitted to hide slaves in a special compartment. This wagon is just one of the many museum artifacts at the beautiful Mendenhall Plantation. (All photos used by permission of Historic Jamestown Society)

Jennifer, Kathleen and I would be honored to have you as our guest today. On the menu is the food fare of the Underground Railroad travelers who needed to eat late in the day or early in the morning, resting all day while they journeyed by night. The food is hearty and simple: Homemade biscuits, ham, bacon and eggs. And don’t forget a generous dollop of strawberry jam on those mouth-watering biscuits. Fresh coffee, anyone? Or how about some hot tea with a bit of sugar to sweeten?

Speaking of tea, we have another release to celebrate at out Colonial Quills Tea Party today: A romance anthology entitled I Choose You, published by OakTara publishers, featuring 38 short romance stories, both contemporary and historical. My particular chapter is entitled, “The Tea Set.” It is set in New York City in World War I, involving a young widow, a soldier, and a lonely four-year-old. Somehow the tea set brings it all together. I hope you enjoy.

Be sure to leave comments on our post today with your e-mail address. You will be entered in a drawing to win either a copy of Path of Freedom or I Choose You.

In the meantime, pull up a chair and enjoy your tea!

For more information on the plantation, visit: http://www.mendenhallplantation.org

All photos of plantation used by permission of Historic Jamestown Society

In Ye Olden Days: The Underground Railroad

By Lori Benton

Harriet Tubman. John Brown. Frederick Douglas. Sojourner Truth. These are names readily associated with the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe houses used by nineteenth century slaves in the southern United States, and those who aided them, to escape to the northern states or Canada, and freedom.

While researching the first novel I wrote set in the late 18th century, a story dealing largely with issues of slavery, I began to wonder just when the Underground Railroad had its genesis. Who was that man or woman who first harbored an escaped slave from a neighboring plantation, or gave him food, or warned him of a house nearby where the dogs (or the people) were mean, or told him of a safer path to take? Who was the first farmer or tradesman to step out of their safety and comfort to actually accompany or "conduct" a slave northward in her flight? The Underground Railroad didn't spring into being one day in the early 19th century, fully realized and operational. There had to be a person, sometime, somewhere who, lacking support from neighbor or like-minded friend, decided to help an escaping slave along his daunting road to freedom.

Since a huge element of the success of such endeavors is secrecy, there can be no knowing exactly who they were. No doubt many an early abolitionist carried his or her secrets to the grave.

Levi Coffin 1798-1877

When author Laura Frantz posted on her blog sometime back about her historical heroes, I pondered the question for myself and realized pretty quickly that these unknown 18th century folk who laid the first tracks for the future Underground Railroad were some of mine.

One who stands in place for them all, for me, is a man named Levi Coffin. He was a Quaker, a North Carolinian with Nantucket roots. He and his cousin, Vestal Coffin, became "the founders of the earliest known scheme to transport fugitives across hundreds of miles of unfriendly territory to safety in the free states."*  The year was 1819.

That's the earliest known scheme. But what about the woman, years prior, who opened her farmhouse door to a tentative knocking one evening after sunset, looked into the frightened eyes of a runaway and felt compelled to give her supper, or a place to sleep in the cow shed, or directions to a friend's home just across the county line to the north? My storyteller's mind wouldn't let go of the likelihood that someone else, somewhere, years before the Coffins, had gotten the idea in their head that it was a good thing, the right thing, to help escaping slaves to freedom, in defiance of law and social pressure. Then I found what might have been the impetus for the taking of such risky action.

The year 1789 saw the publishing of the first influential slave narrative, by Olaudah Equiano--as portrayed by Youssou N'Dour in the film Amazing Grace (at left is N'Dour as Equiano in a scene on the streets of London at what may well be the very first book signing... ever). Equiano, having become a Methodist due to the influence of the evangelical teachings of George Whitefield, bought his freedom from his master after many years of slavery. His unflinching portrayal of the horrors of slavery as practiced in the southern United States drew many on both sides of the Atlantic into the cause of abolition.

In the spring of 2004, armed with a copy of Equiano's narrative and a lot of burning questions, I set out on my own long journey back into the late 18th century, when the then 14 United States were still wobbling on foal's legs. Four years later I'd given myself a crash course in the era, and written a historical novel. Working titled Kindred, the story is set in 1793, a few years after Equiano's narrative was published, and some twenty-five years before Levi and Vestal Coffin founded their slave-freeing scheme. Between my knowledge of Equiano's narrative and my surmises on the grassroots beginnings of the Underground Railroad were born one of Kindred's secondary characters, Thomas Ross, a free black man in Boston who has never known slavery, who is shaken by the things he's read in Equiano's book, shaken out of complacency and onto a path that will forever change his and many others destiny.

For more information about Levi Coffin and the early years of the Underground Railroad, visit my fellow Colonial Quills contributor, author Carla Gade's geneaology blog. Small world that it is, turns out Levi Coffin is mentioned in Carla's family tree. Also check out the wonderful book by Fergus M. Bordewich, Bound for Canaan.

*Bound for Canaan, The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America, by Fergus M. Bordewich.