Descendants of Venture Smith gather at his gravesite in East Haddam, Connecticut, during the town’s 2019 Venture Smith Day. Photo courtesy of Venture Smith Day Celebration Committee.
Venture Smith Day
In September 2008, East Haddam Town Officials Proclaim Venture Smith Day.
This commemoration has continued annually because:
The 25th annual Venture Smith Day Festivities were celebrated in East Haddam, Connecticut in September 2021, and included descendants of Venture Smith as well as historians including Dr. Karl P. Stofko, East Haddam’s Municipal Historian and Venture Smith family genealogist since the 1970s.
On July 26, 2022, a lively panel of Connecticut-based historians discussed the fascinating life and legacy of Venture Smith, one of the very few enslaved people who left behind a first-person account of their experience. Venture Smith’s autobiography, “A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa: But Resident above Sixty Years in the United States of America. Related by Himself ” was published in New London, Connecticut in 1798. Venture Smith was freed in the 1760s, and went on to become a successful Connecticut landowner and businessman.
The panel included Elizabeth Norman of CT Explored, Elizabeth Wood, Executive Director of the Stonington Historical Society, and Dr. Karl Stofco, East Haddam town historian and expert on the Venture Smith family genealogy. Dr. Stofko will describe how he started Venture Smith Day more than 25 years ago, and how the annual fall event in East Haddam has grown each year to include new scholarship and newly discovered descendants. Elizabeth Wood will discuss the new permanent exhibition about Smith at the Lighthouse Museum in Stonington, which incorporates new research and findings from an archaeological dig at a site nearby where Smith was enslaved. Elizabeth Norman will talk about making Smith’s published life story (1798) accessible to teachers and elementary and middle school students, so they may engage more honestly in the history of the founding of Connecticut.
Learn more about Venture Smith at the East Haddam Historical Society & Museum!
In September 2008, East Haddam Town Officials Proclaim Venture Smith Day.
This commemoration has continued annually because:
- Venture symbolizes one who cherished so dearly the concept of freedom.
- East Haddam is proud to be Venture's final resting place and proud of the connection with the African-American history that it symbolizes.
- East Haddam is proud to honor Venture for his amazing perseverence and accomplishments 200 years ago and continuance as an extraordinary model to today's citizens.
The 25th annual Venture Smith Day Festivities were celebrated in East Haddam, Connecticut in September 2021, and included descendants of Venture Smith as well as historians including Dr. Karl P. Stofko, East Haddam’s Municipal Historian and Venture Smith family genealogist since the 1970s.
On July 26, 2022, a lively panel of Connecticut-based historians discussed the fascinating life and legacy of Venture Smith, one of the very few enslaved people who left behind a first-person account of their experience. Venture Smith’s autobiography, “A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa: But Resident above Sixty Years in the United States of America. Related by Himself ” was published in New London, Connecticut in 1798. Venture Smith was freed in the 1760s, and went on to become a successful Connecticut landowner and businessman.
The panel included Elizabeth Norman of CT Explored, Elizabeth Wood, Executive Director of the Stonington Historical Society, and Dr. Karl Stofco, East Haddam town historian and expert on the Venture Smith family genealogy. Dr. Stofko will describe how he started Venture Smith Day more than 25 years ago, and how the annual fall event in East Haddam has grown each year to include new scholarship and newly discovered descendants. Elizabeth Wood will discuss the new permanent exhibition about Smith at the Lighthouse Museum in Stonington, which incorporates new research and findings from an archaeological dig at a site nearby where Smith was enslaved. Elizabeth Norman will talk about making Smith’s published life story (1798) accessible to teachers and elementary and middle school students, so they may engage more honestly in the history of the founding of Connecticut.
Learn more about Venture Smith at the East Haddam Historical Society & Museum!
