“OLD PHOEBE”

Inscription

"OLD PHOEBE"
FOR DECADES, PHOEBE BRADLEY
WALKED THE ROADS OF MADISON
COUNTY. AT HER DEATH IN 1905,
SHE WAS THOUGHT TO BE THE
OLDEST PERSON IN THE COUNTY.
NEW YORK FOLKLORE
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2022

Phoebe Bradley or “Old Phoebe” was a colorful and familiar rambler of the roads of Madison County. She dressed in old clothes, cowhide boots, gingham aprons, and sunbonnets, and carried all her worldly possessions in a bindle slung over her shoulder. But unlike some fabled American vagabonds of the same era, Phoebe remained local, sticking to the roads of northern Madison County where, rain or shine, she would trudge for miles around the county, visiting, begging, or simply wandering.

Her ceaseless walking was even more impressive considering her age. While her birthdate was unknown, some say at the time of her death in 1905 she was the oldest woman in Madison County. Until near the end of her life, a fourteen-mile jaunt from Chittenango to Canastota and back again did not phase her.

While Old Phoebe lived much of her life as a solitary pauper and wayfarer, she holds an unexpected claim to fame in the art world. At some point, Fred Plumb photographed Old Phoebe, and Edward G. Barlow turned the portrait into a celebrated oil painting. The original is now a prized possession of an art collector in San Francisco, and copies have hung in the Canastota Board of Trustees meeting room and the Canastota Canal Town Museum.