59. Elizabeth Smith Miller house

1 Front view of the Miller home, looking across Park Street. 2 Side view of the Miller home, viewed from across Pleasant Valley Road. 3 This strangely-composed historical marker (with Miller's birth and death dates, not her name, at the top) was placed during the administration of New York Governor George Pataki (1995-2006).

Front view of the Miller home, looking across Park Street.

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Elizabeth Smith Miller (1822-1911) was the daughter of abolitionist philanthropist Gerrit Smith and his wife Ann Carroll Fitzhugh Smith. She lived in this house just south of the Gerrit Smith Estate, following her marriage to Charles Dudley Miller.

Miller was an activist and financial supporter of woman's rights/suffrage causes. She is best known as a dress reformer, developing the practical knee-length skirt over pantaloons that became known as "bloomers" after activist Amelia Bloomer popularized them in her periodical The Lily.

The Elizabeth Smith Miller house is a private residence and is not open to the public, though there is a historical marker in its side yard. The house is across the old village square from the Gerrit Smith Estate, which is open on weekends.

SPECIAL NOTE: Peterboro can be hard to find. For unknown reasons, most GPS systems do not recognize Peterboro street addresses; neither, incredibly, does the Post Office's Web site. Would-be visitors to Peterboro are advised to consult Google Maps or a traditional road atlas.