Huguenot Street Historic District
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| Historic Huguenot Street | |
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| (U.S. National Historic Landmark District) | |
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| Location: | New Paltz, New York |
| Nearest city: | Poughkeepsie |
| Coordinates: | Coordinates: |
| Area: | 75 acres (38 ha) |
| Built/Founded: | Founded 1678. Houses date to 1705 |
| Architect: | Unknown |
| Architectural style(s): | Dutch-style colonial; Georgian |
| Designated as NHL: | October 9, 1960[1] |
| Added to NRHP: | October 15, 1966[2] |
| Visitation: | 16,500 (in 2007) |
| NRHP Reference#: | 66000578 |
| Governing body: | Historic Huguenot Street |
The Huguenot Street Historic District is located in downtown New Paltz, New York, approximately 80 miles north of New York City. The seven stone houses and several accompanying structures in the district were built in the early 18th century by Huguenot settlers fleeing discrimination and religious persecution in France and Belgium. After negotiating with the Esopus Indians, this small group of Huguenots settled on a flat rise on the banks of the Wallkill River in 1678. The named this site in honor of the Die Pfalz, the village in the Mannheim region of present-day Germany that had provided them temporary refuge before they came to America. Recent archaeological finds indicate that the immediate area settled by the Huguenots was occupied by Native Americans prior to European contact. Given this, the site is one of the oldest continuous inhabited settlements in the United States.
The house museums of Historic Huguenot Street are in their original village setting. The street was included in National Register of Historic Places since when the Register was created in 1966, and had already achieved National Historic Landmark status in 1960.[1][3]
In addition to the houses, the 20 acre site features a burying ground dating to the earlier 1700s, a reconstructed 1717 stone church, a visitor center, a library and archives, exhibit galleries and space for meetings, talk and programming. In addition, the Harcourt Preserve, a 55 acre nature preserve adjoining the site, is open to the public.
The site is owned and operated by Historic Huguenot Street (HHS), which was founded in 1894. In 1899, HHS purchased the Jean Hasbrouck House as the first house museums on the street. In the 1950s and 60s, HHS purchased all of the remaining stone houses in the district and subsequently opened them as house museums. These acquisitions were funded in large part by family associations -- descendants of the original Huguenot founders. These family associations continue to help support the houses today.
In the 1980s, the organization began offering related educational and informative programming to the public -- which it continues to do today. The site is open to the public and programming is offered year-round. Guided tours of the house museums are offered May through October from 10am to 5pm every day except Wednesday.
[edit] Individual houses
[edit] Bevier-Elting House
Dating to the very early 1700s, the house was originally a one-room building built with the narrow or gable end facing the street -- then the prevailing style of the low countries of Northern Europe. Two expansions were built later and a small cellar housed African slaves. The house was built by the Bevier family, one of the founding families, and subsequently sold to the Dutch Elting family.
[edit] Abraham Hasbrouck House
The structure known as the Abraham Hasbrouck House was built in three phases in the 1720s and 30s. The first room of the house -- the center room -- was constructed in 1721 by Daniel Hasbrouck, the son of Abraham Hasbrouck the patentee. The date 1721 is based on recent dendrochronology, which is a process by which wooden structural members are dated. This house represents a New World innovation in Dutch-style architecture. The initial houses in the Dutch region of New York, such as New Amsterdam, Albany, and Kingston, were built in the tradition of Dutch cities, with the gable-ends to the street which conserve street frontage. The basic structure of the house consists of a series of H-bents which spread the weight of the house across the entire expanse. The original one room house exhibited several defining elements of Dutch architecture, the jambless fireplace being the principle and most recognized feature in the house.
[edit] Jean Hasbrouck House
Also built in 1721, by Jean's son Jacob, (and perhaps incorporating elements of an early home built by New Paltz founder Jean Hasbrouck, this home is an excellent example of Hudson Valley Dutch architecture and the showpiece of Historic Huguenot Street -- and a National Historic Landmark in its own right. It boasts the only remaining, original jambless fireplace of any of the Huguenot Street houses -- and one of the few surviving example in what was formerly the New Netherlands.
In 2006, the north wall of the house was carefully dismantled, repaired and reconstructed. Reproduction Dutch-style casement windows were installed. Interior restoration followed, resulting in a house that is an excellent example of how a comfortable family in the region lived in the mid 1700s.
[edit] DuBois Fort
Built in 1705 to for the DuBois family and to serve as a place of fortification and protection for the small community if needed. This second purpose was one of the conditions set down by the English governor when he provided a patent to the Huguenots after they purchased the land in 1678. Originally a smaller 1 1/2 story structure, this building was expanded to its current size in the late 1830s. The loop holes (gun ports) made it a "fort", although the inhabitants of New Paltz never needed to use the building as a place of refuge. Currently, the DuBois Fort serves as Visitor Center, with an introductory exhibit and the Museum Shop. Guided tours leave from this building. Over the last 300 years, it has also been a home and a restaurant.[4]
[edit] Freer House
The Freer House is one of the six 18th-century stone houses owned by Historic Huguenot Street. It was altered in various points in its approximately 250 years of occupancy, with its most recent major alterations occurring in 1943 when it was purchased by Rev. John Wright Follette, a direct descendant of its original builder, Hugo Freer.
Over the years, the interior was modernized into a 20th century idea of a colonial home. Now interpreting the late 1940s and 1950s in New Paltz, this house reflects how Huguenot descendants adapted their family homes over 300 years.
[edit] Deyo House
The original portion of the house probably began in the early 1700s by Pantentee Pierre Deyo. It Began as a one room house, subsequently expanded to two rooms, and ultimately to three when a stone addition was added off the rear by Pierre's grandson Abraham. Circumstances for this house changed dramatically when, at the height of the Colonial Revival movement, two descendants of Pierre Deyo, Abraham and Gertrude Brodhead, inherited the house. Wanted to live on the street of their ancestors but wanted in modern, gracious home that reflected their affluence, they partially dismantled the original stone house and built a grand Queen Anne home around it. The also significantly changed their surrounding property, in essence changing a small, village farm into a handsomely appointed and landscaped mini-estate. The house was lived in through the 1970s and has been restored to a circa 1900 appearance.
[edit] French Church
The French Church is a 1972 reconstruction of the first permanent stone church which was built in 1717 which replaces an earlier temporary church built of wood. As the New Paltz community increased in size throughout the 18th century, a larger church became necessary. A second stone church was built down the street in 1773. That, too, became too small in time, so it was torn down and a third church was built in 1839. This church survives today and is home to an active Reformed congregation.
A very interesting part of the church interior is that the pulpit was placed in a central location, and the pews are placed so that everyone can see and hear more equally. The reason behind this was to follow in the belief that each is person is believe to be connected directly to God rather than through a church hierarchy. The led to a greater sense of equality among individuals of the Reformed Church.
[edit] LeFevre House
Built in 1799 by Ezekiel Elting, a prosperous merchant who got his start down the street in the Bevier-Elting House, this stone and brick building is quite different from the earlier stone houses on Huguenot Street. Its Georgian style architecture reflects the transition of New Paltz from a French and Dutch settlement to an American community. What is immediately striking about the house are the changes in architectural style from the early 1700s. A new sense of style began to creep in, which resulted in the somewhat of a loss of pure regional styles. This focus became ever more prominent in the early 19th century with the rise of the middle class who possessed the desire to be up-to-date. This house reflects the several changes in the society and home life of New Paltz in the early 19th century.
[edit] Deyo Hall
Formerly a glass factory, Deyo Hall is the site of the Grimm Gallery, meeting facilities and public restrooms. Collections storage is also housed in this building.
[edit] Library and Archives
The Library and Archives at Historic Huguenot Street is a research facility devoted primarily to the history and genealogy of the Huguenot and Dutch Settlers of the Hudson Valley. It also functions as a general repository for local history, regardless of ethnicity or religious persuasion. The collections consist of family genealogies, church, cemetery and bible records, wills and deeds, census records, genealogical periodicals, county histories, and publications relating to Huguenot ancestry. Tenealogists, local historians, and other interested parties can access the collections by appointment. The colorful paint replicates the original colors of the house in 1891.
[edit] Native American Presence on Huguenot Street
There is an evolving understanding of the Native American presence and the relationships between the Huguenots and the Native Americans. Some research can be found at the HHS site at "Relations between the Huguenots of New Paltz, NY and the Espous Indians .
[edit] Slavery in New Paltz and its presence on Huguenot Street
The historical record of slavery in New Paltz begins in 1674, three years before its founding when Louis DuBois, purchased two African slaves at a public auction held in Kingston, then called Esopus. The two slaves ran away from DuBois the following spring and were picked up elsewhere in the colony by a man named Lewis Morris of Barbados. From 1675 to 1680, Morris and DuBois engaged in a lengthy custody battle for the two slaves. Despite the difficult experience, more slaves were brought to New Paltz to support the settlement's growth. The Deyo family bought slaves in 1680 and 1694. Throughout the next 125 years, references to slaves continually appeared in the historical records of the settlement. In 1703, there were 9 slaves out of a total of 130 residents of the town. By 1755, slavery was a very well-established part of the New Paltz community: the census from that year lists 28 slave holders, who collectively owned 78 slaves over the age of 14 years with the age majority of slave holders (82%) owning between one and four slaves. The overall population of New Paltz grew rapidly to 2,309 in 1790, when there were 77 slave holders owning a total of 302 slaves, or 13% of the population. For more information pertaining to the Slavery in New Paltz, visit "The Society of Negroes Unsettled": The History of Slavery in New Paltz, NY . HHS also has an online exhibit called The Missing Chapter: Untold stories of the African American Presence in the Mid-Hudson Valley
[edit] References
- ^ a b Huguenot Street Historic District. National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service (2007-09-15).
- ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).
- ^ Charles H. Ashton, Constance M. Greiff, and Richard W. Hunter (October 15, 1984), National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Huguenot Street Historic District National Historic LandmarkPDF (1.09 MiB), National Park Service and Accompanying 25 photos, from 1984 and 1967.PDF (3.78 MiB)
- ^ DuBois Fort. Historic American Buildings Survey listing. Library of Congress. Retrieved on 2007-11-15.
[edit] External links
- 11 photos, 19 measured drawings, and Supplemental material on Abraham Hasbrouck House, at Historic American Buildings Survey
- 7 drawings and data pages on the DuBois Fort, at 81 Huguenot Street, at Historic American Buildings Survey.
- Historic Huguenot Street
- Official Page for the Village of New Paltz
- New Paltz Regional Chamber of Commerce
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