Buxton National Historic Site and Museum

Buxton National Historic Site is a museum complex with preserved 19th-century buildings set on the grounds of a historical settlement. The site includes structures like a schoolhouse and log cabin, along with exhibits of objects that show how residents lived and worked during that period.

Reverend William King founded the Elgin Settlement in 1849 to provide a place where people fleeing slavery could start fresh with land ownership and self-governance. This initiative represented a rare opportunity in that era for residents to build independent lives away from the racial restrictions they had faced elsewhere.

The museum tells the stories of people who built their own community, schools, and farms in this settlement. Visitors learn how residents created social institutions and developed their own way of life in a place where they could own land and make decisions for themselves.

The site is walkable and visitors can explore the buildings at a relaxed pace, moving between the preserved structures across the grounds. Guided tours are available and offer better understanding of what you see in each building and exhibit.

The schoolhouse on the grounds is one of the last remaining educational buildings from that settlement era and provides a rare look at how learning was organized and managed. The classroom with its period furnishings offers a direct sense of what daily school life was actually like during that time.