NY To Create State Park To Honor Sojourner Truth

KINGSTON, NY — Plans for a new state park were unveiled in Kingston Monday by Gov. Kathy Hochul in recognition of Black History Month and Women's History Month.

More than 500 acres of former industrial property along the Hudson River shoreline in Ulster County will be named for 19th-century African American abolitionist and suffragist Sojourner Truth, the governor announced.

This will be the first state park in the city of Kingston and the first new state park to open since July 2019, according to a spokesperson.

Hochul said it was fitting that such a magnificent property with its cliffs and Hudson shoreline bears the name of a remarkable woman who started life right here in Ulster County.

"New York is committed to reflecting the diverse stories of its people, such as Sojourner Truth and her message of freedom and equality, that have influenced our state's inspiring history," she said.

Isabella "Bomefree" Baumfree was born enslaved in 1797 in Esopus in Ulster County. She freed herself from slavery in 1826 a year before legal enslavement ended in the state.

In 1828, she won a lawsuit to regain custody of her son, who had been sold into slavery in the Deep South, marking one of the first legal cases where an African American woman prevailed in court against a white person.

Baumfree renamed herself Sojourner Truth because, as she traveled as an itinerant preacher, she spoke "truth" to the harsh inequities endured by people of color and women while calling for systemic change.

She became one of the nation's leading voices for abolition and universal suffrage in the mid-19th century.

During the Civil War, she recruited men for the Union Army and worked for the Freedmen's Bureau, an agency that assisted the newly freed enslaved.

After the war, she continued advocating for universal voting rights.

Sojourner Truth died in 1883 after African American men had received the vote but with the national adoption of women's suffrage still four decades away.

Kingston Mayor Steve Noble said the city was looking forward to working with all partners to make Sojourner Truth State Park a world-class park accessible to each and every resident of Kingston and the surrounding communities.

"After years of sitting neglected, this unique urban property will, for the first, be open of Kingston residents to access its breathtaking view, incredible trails, and beautiful Hudson River waterfront," he said.

State Parks will install limited parking and hiking trails to provide public access for passive recreation this spring. Until then, except for the Hudson River Brickyard Trail, the property is not open to the public.

Scenic Hudson, a nonprofit environmental group that will operate the park under a five-year agreement, has conducted a comprehensive study of the property's ecological, geological and cultural resources and held public meetings on development. More meetings will be announced by the partners in the future.

Under an agreement, State Parks, Scenic Hudson and the Palisades Interstate Park Commission will collaborate and solicit public input on how Sojourner Truth State Park will be developed.

In August 2020, State Parks installed a statue of her at the western entrance to the Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park in Highland, Ulster County and dedicated it to the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage in a ceremony attended by one of her descendants.

SEE ALSO: Sojourner Truth Statue Unveiled At Walkway Over The Hudson

The property had been slated for a large-scale private development. Funding for the $13.5 million purchases by State Parks was provided through the state Environmental Protection Fund. About three-quarters of the property is in Kingston, with the rest in Ulster.

Once the site of cement production, brick making, quarrying and ice harvesting, the property already includes the Hudson River Brickyard Trail, which opened in December 2020 as a project of the city of Kingston. It offers spectacular views of the Hudson River and the 150-foot cliffs of limestone and sandstone that drew cement production to the site in the 1840s.