Cyrus Gates Farmstead
The Cyrus Gates Farmstead is located in Maine, New York. Cyrus Gates was a cartographer and map maker for New York State, as well as an abolitionist. The great granddaughter of Cyrus-Louise Gates-Gunsalus has stated that from 1848 until the end of slavery in the United States in 1865, the Cyrus Gates Farmstead was a station or stop on the Underground Railroad (Woodward 1973). Its owners, Cyrus and Arabella Gates, were outspoken abolitionists as well as active and vital members of their community. Historian Shirley L. Woodward states that through those years escaped slaves came through the Gates' station.
Cyrus Gates Farmstead | |
U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
Cyrus Gates Farmstead, 1963 | |
| Nearest city | Maine, New York |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 42°14′50″N 76°2′19″W |
| Area | 130 acres (53 ha) |
| Built | 1848 |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 98001549 |
| Added to NRHP | January 11, 1999 |
One runaway female slave, a 16-year-old girl named Margaret "Marge" Cruizer was so comfortable with the Gates family that she decided to stay at their station and live with them. Marge ended up spending the rest of her life with the Gates and is buried in the cemetery next to the house. (Woodward 1973 pp 52–53). Margaret was also known as the wife of Thomas "Old Bay Tom" Crocker. Mr. Crocker was famous for being the first African-American to be elected as mayor of Binghamton, New York, albeit a protest vote that was reversed in the election of 1872. (Smith 2014).