KINGSTON – More than 500 acres of former industrial property along the Hudson River in Ulster County will become a new State Park named for 19th-century African-American abolitionist and suffragist Sojourner Truth. Governor Hochul made the announcement on Monday.
“It is fitting 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,” Governor Hochul said. “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.”
Born enslaved in 1797 in Esopus, Ulster County, Sojourner Truth, born Isabella “Bomefree” Baumfree, freed herself from slavery in 1826 a year before legal enslavement ended in New York. 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, according to Hochul’s office.
State Parks partnered with the not-for-profit environmental group Scenic Hudson to protect land for this new park that earlier had been slated for large-scale private development. Funding for the $13.5 million purchase by State Parks was provided through the state Environmental Protection Fund. About three-quarters of the property is in Kingston, with the balance in Ulster.
Once the site of cement production, brick making, quarrying, and ice harvesting, the property already includes the Hudson River Brickyard Trail. Part of the Empire State Trail and the Kingston Greenline, this paved trail opened in December 2020 as a project of the city of Kingston, which manages the trail, and Scenic Hudson.
“This visionary effort to induct the City of Kingston into the New York State Parks system holds deep meaning in our community,” said Senator Michelle Hinchey. “I’m proud to have secured $200,000 in state funding to support this triumphant project, which will bring a first-of-its-kind green space amenity into our community while memorializing one of the most prolific figures of our county, state, and nation — Sojourner Truth.”
