Which community in the Adirondacks once was known as “Timbuctu”?
John Brown (of Harper’s Ferry) settled his family in 1848 on a track of land abolitionist Gerrit Smith offered to black settlers. This was the first African-American settlement in the Adirondacks and was referred to as “Timbuctu”. It is located just south of today’s Lake Placid on Rt. 73 and a small museum is open to the public at the site.
