Hike the Freethought Trail!

Quietly fading in the national memory is a rich history of secular thought. The Council for Secular Humanism has taken a first step toward connecting those points of light, today unveiling its “Freethought Trail”. This project calls to attention dozens of sites in western New York State significant to Freethought and Secularism, many of which are open to the public. Robert Ingersoll, Mark Twain, Matilda Joslyn Gage, and many more prominent secularists are featured.

The website, www.freethought-trail.org, is now live. It provides not merely a listing of sites, but directions from place to place, photographs, and the history of each.

If you live in New York State or the surrounding area, you can learn many exciting things about your local heritage. If you want to visit, the site will show you where to go, and how to get there. Or, complete a virtual tour online!

From the website:

The Freethought Trail is a collection of locations in West-Central New York important to the history of freethought. Sites can be browsed by location, by name, by cause, and by type of site. Each site is described in words and in photographs, and directions are provided from one Freethought Trail location to another, so anyone who wants to can make their own path along the multitude of sites on the Trail!

In the 19th century, West-Central New York was a hotbed of social, political, and religious innovation. Fayetteville suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage called religion the enemy of women. Writing from Elmira, Mark Twain raised irreverence to an American art form. At Ithaca, Andrew Dickson White co-founded Cornell University, the nation’s first secular institution of higher learning. In 1848 reformers and freethinkers of every stripe thronged Seneca Falls to demand new roles for women. Corning native Margaret Sanger led the 20th century birth control movement. The birthplace museum of the famous orator, political speechmaker, and outspoken agnostic Robert G. Ingersoll is an anchor of West-Central New York’s “Freethought Trail”.

This site is a great resource for students, as well. Imagine the reports on local history which could be generated from this project! Be sure to share it with your teens and college students.

The Freethought Trail is a project of the Council for Secular Humanism.

Related articles:

1. Take a Trip on the Freethought Trail
2. BHA members walk The Ancestor’s Trail
3. Perkins: Planned Parenthood is Causing Hike in Abortions, STDs
4. Fargo, ND Freethought Convention Sept. 18
5. Freethought Radio expands to 35 new markets

Mike Daniels is co-editor of Secular News Daily.

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