The Sherwood Equal Rights Historic District is an historically and architecturally significant collection of over two dozen intact buildings and sites in the hamlet of Sherwood, a tiny cross-roads hamlet in the predominantly rural town of Scipio.
The district is historically significant for its association with numerous social reform movements popular during the mid- to late nineteenth century, including issues related to abolitionism, the Underground Railroad, women’s rights, and education.
The Sherwood Equal Rights Historic District
Sherwood Road and NY 34B
Sherwood (Town of Scipio), N.Y.
Of particular note are several properties owned and/or occupied by freed slaves as well as the homes of many well- documented abolitionists and women’s rights advocates, many Of whom were devout Quakers associated with the North Street Meeting of Friends (Orthodox).
The district is of significance because of its large, intact collection of contiguous properties that together reflect the importance of the hamlet and surrounding environs as a wellspring and focal point of nineteenth-century reform movements.
It is believed to be one of the very few concentrations of buildings in the country that so vividly tells the story of so many important nineteenth-century social movements that shaped the character of New York State in general and Central New York in particular.