Palmyra

Palmyra (population 7,428 per 2020 Census) is a village on the Erie Canal in Wayne County. Prominent on the Underground Railroad, Palmyra aided more than 2,000 slaves in escaping to Canada. The Book of Mormon was first published in Palmyra; the print shop involved is one of several Mormon-maintained historic sites in the area. Local freethinker Obadiah Dogberry published a freethought paper in Palmyra. It was printed in the same shop that was printing the Book of Mormon. During 1830, Dogberry published thousands of words of critique of the new “scripture” in advance of its publication, to the discomfiture of Mormon “prophet“ Joseph Smith. Palmyra was also the site of an 1886 lecture by freethought “tent revivalist” Charles B. Reynolds.