Sherwood Equal Rights Historic District

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Sherwood Equal Rights Historic District is a national historic district in the hamlet of Sherwood, Cayuga County, New York. It covers about 30 acres and includes 29 properties: 27 primary buildings, one cemetery, three carriage houses, and one non-contributing building. The district forms the whole hamlet around the intersection of New York State Route 34B and Sherwood Road. These buildings reflect the area’s Quaker heritage and its work for abolition, women’s rights, and education.

Sherwood was settled in 1794 on land that had belonged to the Cayuga people. The community grew as Quaker families moved there from nearby areas and England, and it also included freed slaves. Quaker beliefs helped shape the town as a center for abolition and equal rights. The district attracted notable reformers such as Abby Kelley, Harriet K. Hunt, Mary and Emily Edmondson, Joseph John Gurney, Sojourner Truth, Anna Howard Shaw, Susan B. Anthony, and Harriet Tubman. In 1835, Quakers and African Americans in Cayuga County sent the first antislavery petition to Congress from the area. Many residents helped enslaved people through the Underground Railroad.

Local institutions supported equal rights and education, including the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, the Sherwood Political Equality Club, the Sherwood Ramabai Circle, and the Sherwood Select School. Three generations of the Howland family—Slocum Howland, his daughter Emily Howland, his son William and daughter-in-law Hannah, and his granddaughter Isabel Howland—were leaders in the village and beyond.

The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. It includes 29 properties: about 10 related to African Americans, 5 to the Underground Railroad, 16 linked to Quakers, and 11 connected to education. Buildings were built mainly from the 1820s through the 1910s and are one- or two-story, heavy-timber structures. Architectural styles include Federal and Greek Revival, with other styles such as Gothic, Italianate, Stick Style, and Victorian.

Within the district are significant sites such as the Howland Cobblestone Store, now a museum with a large collection of women’s rights memorabilia, and the Slocum and Hannah Howland House.