{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}} {{Infobox historic site | name = | etymology = | image = Buxton National Historic Site and Museum 01.JPG | caption = Bell at Buxton National Historic Site and Museum | alt = | coordinates = {{coord|42|18|20.4|N|82|13|13.5|W|display=inline,title}} | locmapin = Ontario | location = North Buxton, Ontario, Canada | area = {{convert|9000|acre|km2|0}} | elevation = | founded = | founder = | built = 1849 | original_use = | current_use = | architect = | architecture = | governing_body = Parks Canada | owner = | visitation_num = | visitation_year = | website = [http://www.buxtonmuseum.com/ Buxton Museum Official Webpage] | designation1 = National Historic Site of Canada | designation1_offname = | designation1_date = | designation1_number = | designation2 = | designation2_offname = | designation2_date = | designation2_number = }} thumb|Buxton National Historic Site and Museum, South Buxton, Ontario The '''Buxton National Historic Site and Museum''' is a tribute to the '''Elgin Settlement''' (also known as the '''Buxton Mission''', Raleigh, Kent County), established in 1849 by Reverend William King (1812–1895),<ref name=Hist1919>{{cite book |last1=SEXSMITH |first1=W. N. |title=Papers and addresses (Some notes on the Buxton Settlement, Raleigh, Kent County) |date=1919 |publisher=Kent Historical Society |location=Chatham, Ontario, Canada}}</ref>{{rp|40}} and an association which included Lord Elgin, then the Governor General of Canada. King, a former slave owner turned abolitionist, purchased {{convert|9000|acre|km2|0}} of crown land in Southwestern Ontario and created a haven for fugitive slaves and free Blacks.<ref name=Hist1919 />{{rp|41}}It was also a terminus on the Underground Railroad from the United States.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Elgin Settlement |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/elgin-settlement |access-date=2024-02-07 |website=www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca |language=en}}</ref>

The Elgin settlement was divided into {{convert|50|acre|m2|adj=on}} lots which could only be purchased by Black settlers.<ref name=":0" />.Black settlers had 10 years to pay for their property, and houses were built to minimum standards.<ref name=":0" /> By 1864, there was a steam grist mill, steam saw-mill, shoe shop, two general stores, a blacksmith, cooperage, school with forty students on average, and a church ({{convert|24|x|32|ft}}) seating 200.<ref name=Hist1919 />{{rp|40}}

The need for the mission was considered no longer and the Buxton Mission Fund was closed by 1865 when 'the liberty of the slaves was proclaimed' at the end of the American Civil War.<ref name=Hist1919 />{{rp|42–43}}

Opened in 1967, the museum complex includes the main building with exhibits about the community and its history, an 1861 schoolhouse, an 1854 log cabin, and a barn. Local historic church cemeteries are adjacent to the museum. The museum is located in North Buxton, Ontario, near South Buxton in Chatham-Kent. It was designated as a National Historic Site of Canada in 1999.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Parks Canada Agency |first=Government of Canada |date=2022-02-01 |title=Buxton Settlement — National historic site designation - Buxton Settlement National Historic Site |url=https://parks.canada.ca/culture/designation/lieu-site/buxton |access-date=2024-02-07 |website=parks.canada.ca}}</ref>

==See also==

* Anna Maria Weems (ca. 1840 – after 1863), an enslaved teenager who dressed as a male carriage driver and escaped to Canada where she was a student of the Buxton Mission School. * James T. Rapier (1837–1883), student and teacher at the Buxton Mission School * Indigenous Black Canadians * Chatham Vigilance Committee * Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site, a historic site built on the Dawn settlement, another former slave settlement in Ontario. * List of museums in Ontario

== References == {{reflist}}

==External links== *[http://www.buxtonmuseum.com/ Buxton Museum Official Webpage] {{Commons category}}

{{NHSC}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buxton National Historic Site And Museum}} Category:National Historic Sites in Ontario Category:Museums in Chatham-Kent Category:History museums in Ontario Category:Underground Railroad locations Category:History of Black people in Ontario Category:Black Canadian museums Category:Black Canadian culture in Ontario Category:Black Canadian organizations