The primary purpose of this piece of writing is to chronicle a history of African American presence in Little Falls from the time of slavery up to the 2015 dedication of a monument in Little Falls Church Street Cemetery recognizing what was once known as the “Colored Burial Ground.”
The Underground Railroad (URR) was a loosely organized network of people, (men and women, African American and white,) dedicated to helping people escape from bondage in the slave-holding states of the South to freedom in the antislavery states of the North and ultimately to Canada in the period before the Civil War.
On the 12th of July in 1812, Colonel Morgan, proprietor of the “Stag’s Head Tavern” (formerly Crane’s Tavern) entertained General Stephen Van Rensselaer and his officers on their way to the Canadian frontier. A sumptuous banquet was served followed by the usual toasts.”
There will be a Memorial Service for former Little Falls native Annette (Eysaman) Withington’s husband, Arthur, on July 22, 2023, 11am, at the Cornerstone Plymouth Bethesda Church in Utica.