Known in the 1800's as "the hub" of Connecticut's Underground Railroad, Farmington was home to an active group of prominent and outspoken abolitionists, several of whom were involved in state, national and international anti-slavery movements. Three of these abolitionists participated in the Amistad case and brought the Mendi Africans here in 1841 after the courts declared them free. The Africans lived, studied and worked as free citizens in Farmington for eight months while money was raised for their return to Africa. Most of the buildings associated with the Amistad and the Underground Railroad remain, among them the First Church of Christ, the Samuel Deming House, the Horace Cowles House, the Noah Porter House, and the Austin Williams House, all on Main Street, and the Deming Store on Mill Lane. Foone, the African who died here, is buried in Riverside Cemetery on Garden Street.
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