Up to 20 people will join the esteemed Venture Smith scholar Nancy Steenburg and her colleague Elizabeth Kading for a hike to the Venture Smith homesite at Barn Island on July 24 at 10 am.

The hike will be followed by a picnic luncheon, an intimate presentation and a Q& A session with Professor Steenburg, and a tour of the Lighthouse Museum.

Venture Smith was kidnapped from his African homeland as a child and enslaved here in Stonington for the better part of his life. Under various owners, Venture Smith was both respected and abused. He was allowed to earn an income outside of his bondage and eventually was able to purchase the freedom of his family. In Stonington, Venture Smith was enslaved, purchased his freedom, bought real estate, and built a home. His dictated autobiography was published in 1797 detailing his extraordinary life.

Nancy Steenburg is a professor of history at the University of Connecticut's Avery Point Campus where she also oversees the Bachelor of General Studies Program. She has studied the life of Venture Smith for many years and was instrumental in identifying the original boundaries of Smith's parcel of land and homesite. Steenburg served as the primary researcher for the Venture Smith Project funded by the State of Connecticut. "My Freedom is a Privilege that Nothing Else Can Equal," an exhibit about the life of Venture Smith and enslavement in Stonington opened at the Lighthouse Museum in 2022.