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Groups partner to purchase historic farmstead to tell the True story

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The Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum (SSAAM) and Sourland Conservancy have partnered to purchase and save the historic True family farmstead.

Located in Skillman, N.J., the property was originally owned by a Black Union army veteran who worked as a farmer after the Civil War. In 1891, after his death, his wife, Corinda, married Spencer True, a descendant of former slave Friday Truehart, who gained his freedom in 1819 and became an early African American landowner in the Sourland Region. Spencer and Corinda True made their home on the farmstead, which originally included the land on which the National Historic Register-listed Mt. Zion AME Church stands today. Spencer and Corinda donated the land for the church in 1899 after the original church, built around 1866 on the Sourland Mountain, burned down. Mt. Zion AME Church welcomed its African American congregants until 2005, and now serves as the home of the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum. SSAAM advisory board member Patricia Payne, a descendant of Friday Truehart and Spencer True, grew up visiting her grandparents on the family farmstead. Purchasing the True Farmstead will enable the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum (SSAAM) to tell the story of the unique culture, experiences, and contributions of the African American community of the Sourland Mountain Region.

To learn more, visit ssaamuseum.org.


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