Welcome to the all-new Freethought Trail!

Notice anything different? The Freethought Trail has been completely redesigned, and you are among the first to discover it.

We are doing what the marketing types call a "soft open." That is, we've turned on the new version of our website without making a fuss about it. That way we can make sure everything works and study the feedback from the visitors who do find us. (Please let me know how you like the new site at tflynn@centerforinquiry.net.)

What's New?

The new site features a greatly enhanced user experience with point-and-click maps, enhanced photo and image display, and powerful new ways of navigating through the data. It's mobile-friendly, displaying optimally on desktops, laptops, tablets, and phones. Basic information is now provided on each of the 26 Trail communities. Also new are the Curated Trails, 15 customized trail tours designed for those wishing to focus on a specific region, person, or cause.

What Hasn't Changed?

The Freethought Trail's commitment to interpret -- and celebrate! -- west-central New York's radical reform history. We still encompass 112 historic sites, located in 26 different communities (from cities to villages to unincorporated areas), all within a 2-hour drive of the Robert Green Ingersoll Birthplace Museum in Dresden, New York. Some sites host museums, others have historical markers, and others are unmarked. Trail visitors can go to any of these sites and stand where radical reform history happened. 37 historically significant persons or organizations are profiled. Some of the better-known include Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mark Twain, Susan B. Anthony, L. Frank Baum, Matilda Jolsyn Gage, Robert Green Ingersoll, and Emma Goldman.

We still profile eight historic radical-reform causes: Freethought/atheism/secular humanism, abolition, woman's rights / suffrage, anarchism, dress reform, birth control / sex radicalism, Fourierist Utopianism, and scientific knowledge.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

The Freethought Trail is a project of the Robert Green Ingersoll Memorial Committee, a project of the Council for Secular Humanism, which is a program of the Center for Inquiry, Inc.

The site was fully redesigned by Ingenious, Inc. of Buffalo, New York.

Website redesign and production of a companion promotional brochure were funded through a generous grant from the James Hervey Johnson Charitable Educational Trust of San Diego, California.

Enjoy your explorations along the Freethought Trail!

Tom Flynn
Director