By Colleen Flynn
For nearly two centuries, the story of Africa Lane — a once-thriving Black neighborhood tucked along South Street in the Town of Marlborough — survived only in fragments: census records, property deeds, forgotten newspaper columns and scattered local histories.
Now, a group of local historians is working to bring that story back into public view, and to give it the permanent recognition they say it deserves.
Eddie Moran presented new research on the community’s origins during a recent Town Board meeting, tracing Africa Lane’s roots to the intersection of Hudson Valley slavery and the Haitian Revolution of the 1790s.
According to historical records, a French émigré named John Joseph Alexis Robart settled in Marlborough sometime between 1795 and 1798 after fleeing a slave uprising in Saint-Domingue, present-day Haiti. He established a nursery, operated a store and became one of the larger landowners in the southern part of town. When Robart returned to France in 1813 or 1814, he freed several of the enslaved people he had brought with him from Haiti and granted small parcels of land to some of them — laying the foundation for what would become Africa Lane.
One of those men, John Francis Figaro, received five acres under an unusual arrangement requiring payment in “chickens and turkeys,” though historical accounts note the payments were never collected.
By 1820, census records show Africa Lane consisted of at least three Black households. By 1840, the neighborhood had grown to include families identified in records as the Duboises, Perrins, Hardenberghs and Supremes. Residents worked as laborers, farmers, sailors and tradesmen while building what historians describe as a self-sustaining community, despite the considerable obstacles facing Black Americans of the era.
One family, the Mildens, became central to the neighborhood’s story. Research in “Bearing Witness: African Americans in Ulster County” traces the family to Priscilla “Syl” Milden, born into slavery in Westchester County around 1775 or 1776. She eventually married Peter Milden, who may also have been born enslaved. Historical deeds show the couple purchased land adjoining Francis Figaro’s property in the 1830s.
One descendant, Jacob Milden, became the first person of color summoned to serve as a juror in Ulster County Circuit Court, according to an 1892 newspaper reference. Another, Dubois Milden, may have served in the Civil War.
Moran also addressed how deeply embedded slavery had been in Marlborough itself. An 1801 document signed by Robart recorded the birth of two Black girls to enslaved women. Additional records from 1807 through 1814 documented enslaved children born in Marlborough. Although New York passed gradual emancipation laws beginning in 1799, slavery did not end statewide until 1827, and many formerly enslaved people remained economically dependent on former enslavers long after that.
By 1875, historical records suggest Africa Lane had largely dissolved as a distinct community, leaving behind only sparse references in deeds, obituaries and local memory.
Among the most significant surviving references is an 1890 obituary noting that a resident was buried in a “family lot near his home at Africa Lane, where several of his family members are buried.” Moran said the reference strongly suggests the existence of a historic Black burial ground near present-day South Street.
Moran and fellow historians are now seeking town approval to apply for two New York State historic blue markers: one recognizing the Africa Lane neighborhood itself, proposed for installation near 47 South Street, and a second commemorating the community’s burial ground near the South Street entrance from Route 9W.
“This is a part of Marlborough history that deserves recognition,” Moran said.
Town officials expressed support for the effort.
