The landscape and sites from Westport to North Elba were later described in the Quaker periodical, Friends' Intelligencer, Vol. 18, 1861-62.

"The land is poor, and little benefited by the careless culture it has received; the houses are old and unpainted, and many fields, which were once enclosed, are now thrown out into commons. We were much struck with the appearance of Juniper in these neglected fields; it grows in circular patches from five to twenty five feet in diameter, and curving gracefully outward from the bottom, presents the appearance of a giant fairy basket." Friends' Intelligencer

Between Westport and Elizabethtown, the funeral cortege passed an old forge site called Brainard's Forge. The stream was narrow but the high banks made it easy to bridge. One can be sure that the farms did not improve in appearance from this spot on into the county seat at Elizabethtown.

"The mountain views, though tame enough to a traveler coming from the mountain region, are full of grandeur to one who enters from the tamer east; chief among these is the 'Raven' over 1700 feet high, which towers over all the rest, and is the culminating point in the landscape."

"We pass through the mountain notch, having Raven on the right hand, and Bald Mountain on our left, and now we are descending into the valley of the Boquet." Friends' Intelligencer

Upon entering Elizabethtown, the old road ran south of its present course. Today, there is a hairpin curve at the bottom of the mountain. In years past, the road ran through the grounds of what became the now demolished, elegant estate, known as Garondah.

"Below the mountain slope the funeral cortege would have passed the old, but then bankrupt, Whallon's iron works, with its giant, water wheel, fifty feet in diameter, which was erected, some years pre-1859, at great expense, but which, owing to the depression in the iron trade, has never been used, for a single day for any useful purpose; we cross the bridge over the Boquet gladdening our eyes at the sight of its cool dark waters, overarched by thick trees of willow and elm..." Friends' Intelligencer

Essex County Fair Grounds

The old Essex County Fair Grounds were located on the flats east of Elizabethtown along the Boquet River from 1850 until it was moved to Westport in 1865. John Brown is reported to have displayed his choice Devon cattle and his prize sheep here several times. The Essex County Agricultural Society in its 1850 Annual Report noted the introduction of these fine Devon cattle with the following comment. "We have no doubt that this influence upon the character of our stock will be permanent and decisive." Brown enjoyed recounting to Essex County farmers how, during a trip to England, he had astounded farmers there by identifying the source of a sample of wool, while blindfolded--just by fingering its texture and checking its smell.

The former Baptist Church (NYS Route 9)

On occasion, John Brown attended services at this church. His last church service in the north country was here, at the Elizabethtown Baptist Church with his friend, Levi DeWitt Brown, in the late fall of 1859 just before he left on his final mission. The pioneer settlers of Pleasant Valley established the church in 1797. The present edifice was erected in 1837. The church was the site of anti-slavery conventions in 1844. The church closed in 1957 and the remaining membership merged with the Congregational Church. The building was sold in 1964 to the town for use as a town hall.

The Mansion House Site (NYS Route 9)

The funeral cortege arrived in Elizabethtown at 6 pm, Tuesday evening, December 6, 1859. They were welcomed to stay at the Mansion House Hotel owned by Essex County Sheriff, Elisha A. Adams. He was the son-in-law of the famed Ruben Sanford of Wilmington whose stand at the Battle of Plattsburgh is one of the treasured memories of the War of 1812. Earlier he had been county clerk, but in 1859 he was the sheriff, which gave him control of the county buildings. It was his honor to open them for the use of such a noteworthy event.

Mrs. Brown, Reverend Wendell Phillips and Mr. McKim stayed in the hotel, while John Brown's body lay in the Court House under the watch of four young men--Richard L. Hand, A.C.H. Livingston, Orlando Kellogg and Henry J. Adams. The local citizens turned out en masse to meet with the pastor, Wendall Phillips, at the hotel. Later the four young men received much local fame and Sheriff E. A. Adams was promoted upward in local government jobs at Dannemora Prison, finally becoming a customs official.

The Mansion House, later owned by General Henry H. Ross of Essex, became the Deer's Head Inn. It is the only extant structure and it is located directly across from the Essex County Courthouse.

Essex County Courthouse (NYS Route 9)

The Essex County Court House is an elegant old building and carries its many later add-ons with extreme grace. The present structure began as a one-story, brick courthouse in 1823, and in 1843, a second story was added and it became the courtroom. In 1880, the second floor was removed, creating an open chamber with interior stairs to the gallery above. The exterior stairs were removed and new windows replaced the originals. The one-acre park is maintained with a sense of its original open space.

The large, 6 x 9 ft. oil painting by David C. Lithgow inside the courthouse is an artist's interpretation entitled, John Brown's Trial at Charlestown, Va. An account of the public unveiling on December 11, 1923 states, "Heretofore it has remained for the state or private philanthropy [sic] little has been done on the way of monumenting and memorializing in a materializing way those things the true American holds sacred."

An early county clerk also framed a quotation from a speech made by John Brown as follows:

"I am yet too young to understand that God is any respector of persons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done; as I have always freely admitted I have done, in behalf of His despised poor; I did no wrong, but right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my blood for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I say let it be done."

Henry J. Adams, son of the Sheriff, left Elizabethtown at 6 a.m. for North Elba to carry the word that the funeral cortege would arrive later that day. He later showed this same zeal by enlisting for service in the Civil War, wherein he was captured and made a P.O.W. at the battle of Fair Oaks at Richmond, Virginia. He was kept at a Confederate prison in Salisbury, North Carolina until 1865 where he was paroled and furloughed. He went to Albany, New York where he was mustered out of the army in June of 1865 as a brevet major of the 118th Infantry, F Company. Colonel John S. Cunningham, who left Essex as a lawyer, commanded the renowned 118th Infantry, F Company, and many of the local boys served in that unit. Cunningham was wounded in the side at a battle at South Anna, Virginia and again in a brave charge on Fort Harrison on September 29, 1862. His exploits are in a book entitled, Three Years With the Adirondack Regiment. In the Civil War, the Union Army had almost double the number of troops as serve in the entire US military today.

Another of the young men in the honor guard that night, Augustus Cincinnatus Hand Livingston, known as A.C.H. Livingston (pictured here), was wounded at the battle of Williamsburg, Virginia and again at Fair Oaks, near Richmond, Virginia. There, he was struck by a musket ball in the left leg, just below the knee.

Another member of the honor guard, Richard L. Hand, became a lawyer and a leader of the bar association in Elizabethtown and Northern NY State.

The longest surviving member of the Honor Guard was Orlando Kellogg, Jr., who died in 1929. He never tired of telling the story of that December night. He certainly had other important events to recount, as he was a US Congressman and an intimate acquaintance of President Abraham Lincoln. He was also the owner of the Elizabethtown Stage Company and several hotels. He is responsible for setting out the wonderful old maple trees around the courthouse and maintaining the appearance of this historic structure.

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