This broad flat valley of the Western Ausable, the stream winding
through it in a deeply-cut gorge, and surrounded on the south and west
by an amphitheatre of the highest Adirondack peaks, is the township of
North Elba in Essex county; and the valley and its fertile borders are
the "Plains of Abraham." It is a farming district, so well enclosed by
the mountains that the soil is fairly tillable. These plains gradually
slope northwestward to the banks of two of the most noted of the
Adirondack waters, Lake Placid and the Mirror Lake, with old Whiteface
Mountain for their guardian, "heaving high his forehead bare." Here
are the scattered buildings of the village of North Elba on the
plains, and the more modern and fashionable settlement beyond at the
lakes. To the southward is the great rounded top of Tahawus, the
highest Adirondack peak, displayed through an opening vista, and at
the northern border grandly stands Whiteface, the black sides abruptly
changing to white, where an avalanche years ago denuded the granite
cliffs near the top and swept down all the trees. Here at North Elba
was the home and farm of "Old John Brown of Osawatomie." He had been
given this homestead by Gerrit Smith, the great New York Abolitionist,
in 1849, and there had also been founded here a colony of refuge for
the negro slaves. It was then a remote and almost unknown place in the
wilderness. Brown settled in the colony and built his little log house
and barn near a huge boulder which stood a short distance from the
front door. Here he formed his plan for liberating the slaves, and
from here went to engage in the Kansas border wars of 1856. Returning,
for three years he brooded on plans to liberate the negroes, and after
further conflicts in Kansas projected the expedition into Virginia for
the capture of Harper's Ferry in October, 1859. He declared his object
to be to free all the slaves, and that he acted "by the authority of
God Almighty." After his capture and conviction he discouraged efforts
at liberation, saying, "I am of more use to the cause dead than
living." After his death his body was brought up here to his home in
the wilderness, for he had said, "When I die, bury me by the big rock,
where I love to sit and read the word of God." Here he was buried on a
bitterly cold day in December, 1859, a few sorrowing friends
conducting the services and covering up his body in the frozen ground.
The old gravestone of his grandfather was brought from New England and
put at the head of the grave, but it was soon so chipped off and
broken by relic-hunters, it had to be enclosed in a case for
preservation. Behind the grave rises the huge boulder on which has
been carved, in large letters, "John Brown, 1859." The old gravestone
is full of names both front and back, containing the record of his own
death, and that of three sons, two losing their lives at Harper's
Ferry and one in Kansas. The record of his life, graven on the stone,
is: "John Brown, born May 9, 1800, was executed at Charleston, Va.,
Dec. 2, 1859." It is here that
"John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave,
And his soul goes marching on."
Forty years afterwards, in 1899, the remains of seven of his
companions in the Harper's Ferry raid were removed here and interred
beside him. This region no longer knows Brown's kindred, for all have
disappeared. Yet in the world's mutations, nothing could be more
strange than that this remote wilderness, originally selected as a
refuge and hiding-place for runaway slaves, should have become one of
the most fashionable and popular health resorts in America. The farm
and graves are now kept by New York State as a public park.