|
1816 Farmington Quaker Meetinghouse | The 1816 Farmington Quaker Meetinghouse Museum preserves, maintains, and interprets the 1816 Farmington Quaker Meetinghouse as a national site of conscience and a cornerstone of historic movements for equal rights, social justice, and peace, including rights for Native Americans, African Americans, and women, inviting visitors to explore issues of equality and justice in their own lives. |
| | | |
- Welcome Freedom Walkers: Community programs at Macedon, Farmington, Rochester, June 18-20
- Join Tony Cohen and Freedom Walkers as Companion Walkers
- Survey: Finger Lakes Regional Stakeholders
-
“Safe Haven Within the Circle of Farmington Friends”: Freedom Seekers in Farmington and Macedon
- Honoring Pauline Copes Johnson
- Ganondagan Announces Summer Programs
- NYS Legislature passes Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Corridor bill
- How you can help
|
| | | WELCOME FREEDOM WALKERS: COMMUNITY PROGRAMS AT MACEDON, FARMINGTON, ROCHESTER, June 18-20, 2026 | |
Thirty years ago, historian Tony Cohen walked 750 miles from Maryland to Canada. He honored the courage and resilience of Harriet Tubman and the many others who escaped from slavery to freedom along the Underground Railroad.
This year, the 250th birthday of the U.S., Tony Cohen is doing it again. As #FreedomWalk2026, Tony and companion walkers left Sandy Spring, Maryland, on May 4, thirty years to the day after his first walk began in 1996. They will reach St. Catharines, Ontario, on July 1. With them will come a 2200-pound, eight-foot-tall statue of Harriet Tubman called Journey to Freedom, created by North Carolina artist Wesley Wofford.
Join us on June 18-20 to welcome the Freedom Walkers to the Farmington-Macedon-Rochester area for special programs surrounding June 19. On that day in 1864, in Galveston, Texas, General Gordon Granger announced the official end of slavery throughout the U.S. Today, we commemorate this day as Juneteenth.
Tony made a special effort to reach the 1816 Farmington Quaker Meetinghouse by Juneteenth, since local communities have a special connection to that day through General Granger’s birth and childhood in Sodus and Phelps, New York. Along with Tony and freedom seeker Austin Steward (a.k.a. Doug Curry), General Granger (a.k.a. Peter Grassi) will make a special guest appearance at Farmington Friends on July 19, 7-9 p.m.
Tony felt called to make this walk on the 250th anniversary of this nation’s independence as a way to bring Americans together in what he calls the “eternal journey” toward “independence, liberty, and freedom.” He reminds us that we cannot change our past, but we can learn from it to create the future. What do we want America to look like in the next 250 years?
| | JOIN FREEDOM WALKERS: COMPANION WALKERS | | SURVEY: FINGER LAKES REGIONAL STAKEHOLDERS | | |
You are invited to fill out this brief survey from the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council—and to name the 1816 Meetinghouse as one of the capital projects that you think should receive part of this $50 million grant.
On behalf of the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council (FLREDC), we invite you to take a brief online survey to share your input on the region's greatest strengths, challenges, and high impact opportunities. We will be using your feedback to identify and develop a transformational regional initiative in response to the second round of Governor Hochul's ACHIEVE Competition. If the Finger Lakes REDC's ACHIEVE proposal is selected for funding, our region has the opportunity to receive up to $50 million to implement our proposal.
Your voice is important! Please help us collaboratively identify a transformational initiative that will benefit the entire region by completing the survey by June 22, 2026: https://arcg.is/0bfLbn1
We also invite you to share this survey widely amongst your networks, colleagues, and constituents. Thank you in advance for your valuable feedback.
| | "SAFE HAVEN WITHIN THE CIRCLE OF FARMINGTON FRIENDS": FREEDOM SEEKERS IN FARMINGTON AND MACEDON | | Marjory Allen Perez, local author and Underground Railroad specialist spoke to a rapt audience in Macedon Academy on May 17 about the freedom-seeking families of Waples, Woodlin, and Brister, all from Maryland and Delaware, who settled near Quaker families in Farmington and Macedon. Co-sponsored with Macedon Historical Society. Thanks to all who made this possible, with good questions, thoughtful dialogue, and fine refreshments, too. | | | HONORING PAULINE COPES JOHNSON | | On June 6, 2026, we planted a rose bush in the memorial garden of the Harriet Tubman Memorial AME Zion Church for Pauline Copes Johnson, a long-time member of the National Advisory Board for the 1816 Meetinghouse. As a descendent of Harriet Tubman, Mrs. Johnson shared Tubman’s story generously with people all around the country, as well as in Tubman’s birth country of Ghana. She was also a descendant of Quaker Richard Gaskin, who came with his family from Virginia to New York State, in 1864, where he joined the North Street Meeting of Friends in the Town of Scipio. As a woman of grace, kindness, courage, and joy, and as a Mother of the AME Zion Church, Mrs. Johnson embodied the loving spirit of her Christian faith. She will be much missed by all who knew her. | | Judith Wellman, representing the 1816 Farmington Quaker Meetinghouse Museum, with Duan Johnson, Tubman descendant, and Doug Richer and Mary Beth DiMarco from Syracuse Friends Meeting at Tubman’s grave | | GANONDAGAN ANNOUNCES SUMMER PROGRAMS | | |
Our friends at the Seneca Art and Culture Center at Ganondagan invite us to join them for upcoming programs. For details, see https://www.ganondagan.org/events.
June 9, 6PM – Gary Farmer Health & Wellness & Indigenous Food Tastings at the Rochester Museum & Science Center
Balancing traditional knowledge grounded in culture, with western medicine to improve the health & wellness of Indigenous peoples
June 10, 6PM – Gary Farmer Documentary Film, “The Doctrine” & Talk Back at Ganondagan
Screening of THE DOCTRINE, followed by a talk back with Gary Farmer (Cayuga) and director Gwendolen Cates, moderated by Ansley Jemison (Seneca).
July 8, 2PM – Skannoh from Turtle Island at Ganondagan
Turtle Island is a new outdoor spectacle created by Plasticiens Volants under the artistic guidance of Haudenosaunee artist, historian, and educator G. Peter Jemison (Seneca, Heron Clan), with choreography and performance contributions by Skywoman Iroquois Dance Theater. Co-produced by Unicycle Productions LLC and Plasticiens Volants, this intimate, family-friendly production brings to life the foundational Haudenosaunee Creation Story through a vibrant fusion of aerial puppetry, dance, and community engagement.
July 25 & 26, 10AM – 6PM – Indigenous Music & Arts Festival at Ganondagan
Welcoming the Zuni Ola Maidens, Fabian Fontelle, Shelley Morningsong, Daryl Tonemah, Haudenosaunee social dancing, demonstrations, live music performances, Indigenous artisans, children’s activities, and more.
| | NYS LEGISLATURE PASSES HARRIET TUBMAN UNDERGROUND RAILROAD CORRIDOR BILL | | |
The NYS Assembly and Senate have approved the bill authorizing the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Corridor from Auburn to Niagara Falls. It now goes to Governor Hochul for signing. Next year, the proposed route will be extended east toward Albany and south along the Hudson River to New York City.
The 1816 Farmington Quaker Meetinghouse is listed on this corridor as an important Underground Railroad historic site. We expect that completion of the corridor will bring large numbers of heritage tourists to visit the Meetinghouse in person. Many thanks to our own Senator Pam Helming for supporting this bill.
| |
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Follow us:
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/1816farmingtonquaker/
Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/1816FQMM/
YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/channel
Subscribe to this newsletter at the bottom of our webpage: https://farmingtonmeetinghouse.org/
Attend & bring friends to our public programs—free and open to all!
Volunteer (programs, hospitality, transcription of Quaker–Seneca papers, collections, exhibits, education, fundraising; especially exhibit review & publicity/design)
Train as a docent
Support: Consider a legacy gift in your will or estate plan to help us restore the Meetinghouse and grow our endowment with the Rochester Area Community Foundation. Your gift will help carry out our mission for many years to come. Donate to our annual appeal to help fund our operating expenses.
Reply & Contact: To respond to ideas in this Newsletter info@farmingtonmeetinghouse.org or Judith Wellman, Executive Director - historicalnewyork@me.com.
| | | 1816 Farmington Quaker Meetinghouse | 230 Sheldon Rd. | Farmington, NY 14425 US | | | | |
