Tranquility Grove

Recounts the historic gathering in Hingham, Massachusetts, that celebrated the emancipation of West Indian slaves.

Tranquility Grove: The Great Abolitionist Picnic of 1844 tells the story of an important event that took place in Hingham, Massachusetts.

Attended by as many as 10,000 people, the largest abolitionist picnic in history marked the tenth anniversary of the end of slavery in the British West Indies. For abolitionists, celebrating the emancipation of West Indian slaves on August 1 was even more important than commemorating the 4th of July.

Newspapers described the preparations, participants, and events, from the parade to the speeches, to the unexpected overnight grounding of the steamship taking the Suffolk and Essex County delegates home.

Frederick Douglass was there, and former President and Congressman John Quincy Adams sent remarks. Tranquility Grove is a trove of information, right down to the question of where delegates and participants left their horses.

It also discusses other abolitionist memorials and suggests how Tranquility Grove can be better maintained and interpreted in the future as a significant nineteenth-century historic site.