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<\/p>\r\nOn the far eastern end of Grand Island, a small roadside plaque commemorates the planned Jewish\u00a0colony from two centuries ago that never came to be. Motorists driving by this stretch of East River Road, filled with apartment complexes, a cemetery, and a Radisson hotel, might easily miss this extraordinary piece of history if they weren\u2019t looking for it.<\/p>\r\n
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\u201cARARAT: PROPOSED SITE OF MORDECAI NOAH\u2019S ATTEMPT TO ESTABLISH A CITY OF REFUGE FOR THE JEWS OF THE WORLD ON 2555 ACRES OF LAND IN 1825,\u201d the sign states.<\/p>\r\n
In 1825, the largely undeveloped island drew the attention of Manuel Mordecai Noah, a politician, lawyer, and editor of a New York City newspaper. Noah\u2019s friend, Samuel Leggett, had recently purchased part of the island, and its close proximity to the Canadian border and relative remoteness made it an ideal location for such a settlement.
America was just turning 50 years old, and its promising ideal of freedom of religion inspired Noah to propose a Jewish refuge. Under his plan, Jewish U.S. citizens would contribute one piece of gold per year to build and sustain the colony, which would still adhere to U.S. laws.
To commemorate Ararat, Noah purchased a cornerstone from a marble yard in Cleveland and celebrated its arrival on Sept. 2, 1825 at St. Paul\u2019s Episcopal Church downtown.<\/p>\r\n
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Noah\u2019s idea never materialized past the cornerstone, as other Jewish leaders criticized the idea of a colony. The stone\u00a0remained in a yard behind the church, then completed a multi-decade odyssey at a variety of locations in Buffalo and on Grand Island. Noah\u2019s friend, General Peter B. Porter, initially moved the stone to his house in Black Rock after Noah requested that Porter \u201ctake care of it,\u201d according to mappingararat.com. Porter then relocated it to Grand Island, where his friend, Lewis F. Allen, built a small memorial along the river. Allen ultimately moved the stone to several more locations before donating it to the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society in 1866, just four years after our organization\u2019s founding.<\/p>\r\n
The stone remained in our collection for nearly a century before we loaned it to the Grand Island Historical Society for three decades. It was returned here in 1994 for the Neighbors exhibit and it remains on view in our Continuum exhibit, which commemorates Erie County\u2019s bicentennial.
As one of our longest-held artifacts, the cornerstone is a poignant reminder of one man\u2019s ambitious plans for our region, and of the promise of religious freedom that the United States came to symbolize nearly two centuries ago.<\/p>\r\n