Ulster County

Stories in Stone: New Paltz Graveyard Walk and Talk

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So much of Huguenot Street in New Paltz seems quiet, almost as if time has stopped. No place on the street is this more true than in the Old Burying Ground that surrounds the reconstructed 1717 stone church. Stories in Stone, a walk and talk to be held on Saturday, May 22nd at 10am.

Some may consider it tiny, but small plot contains over 100 markers. In all likelihood, even more people are buried here, but with time, decay and change, their headstones have disappeared. Still, what remains is a remarkable burying ground that contains many interesting stories from the community’s earliest years.

One such story is that of young Ann Eltinge, whose small marble stone rests under one of the majestic trees that ring the burying ground today. Her stone tells the story of a young couple, Roelof and Dina Eltinge, who lost their infant daughter. Next to Ann’s stone is the stone marking the burial of another of Roelof and Dina’s children, this one a boy who died just eleven days after birth.

“What is fascinating to me are the many stories that can be found in this burial ground,” says Richard Heyl de Ortiz, Director of Marketing and Community Relations for Historic Huguenot Street. “Stories such as the Dutch and Huguenots intermarrying. The courageous widows who outlived their husbands by decades. The ‘newer’ immigrants that arrived here after the Revolution and how they integrated into the town.” Heyl de Ortiz will be leading the program on the 22nd.

Stories in Stone will leave from the DuBois Fort Visitor Center at 81 Huguenot Street. The program is approximately 90 minutes in length. Admission is $10 per person ($8 for Friends of Huguenot Street). Reservations, while not required, may be made in advance at www.huguenotstreet.org or by calling 255-1889.

Huguenot Street Opens with Wickets and Wine

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Starting Saturday, May 1st, the DuBois Fort Visitor Center Historic Huguenot Street in New Paltz will be open six days a week from 10:30am to 5pm every day except Wednesday. Guided Tours of the iconic stone houses are offered on a walk-in basis during these hours, and the Museum Shop, gallery and exhibits are also open to the public during these hours. These hours continue through October. Weekend only hours start in November.

To mark the “opening,” Historic Huguenot Street is offering its popular Wickets and Wine event on May 1st from 4 to 6pm. With the Deyo House as a backdrop, players enjoy a relaxing game of croquet on the sweeping lawns. The setting is perfect for this Victorian favorite. Wine, homemade lemonade and light noshes round out the fun.

Players of all levels, including novices, are welcome. “One of the great things,” says Richard Heyl de Ortiz, Director of Marketing and Community Relations at Historic Huguenot Street, “is how more experienced players help out ‘newbies’ and gently teach them technique and the rules of the game.” Wickets and wine is $12 per person or $10 for Friends of Huguenot Street.

The first guided house tour of the day leaves the Fort at 11am. More information about guided tours or Wickets and Wine can be obtained by calling (845) 255-1889 or by visiting www.huguenotstreet.org.

Archaeologist to Discuss Historic Huguenot St. Finds

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Professor Joseph Diamond, head of the summer Archeological Field School sponsored by the State University of New York at New Paltz, will be the featured speaker at Historic Huguenot Street’s Second Saturday talk on Saturday, April 10th.

The Archeological Field School, which is administered by the Department of Anthropology, has been based at Historic Huguenot Street in New Paltz for the past several summers. Students working under the direction of Professor Diamond conduct archaeological digs on the six-acre site where a small group of French-speaking Huguenots founded New Paltz in 1678.

The project is an excellent example of “town-gown” collaboration. Students receive credit for their participation in the field school and Historic Huguenot Street gains valuable and new information about the community’s earliest years.

Work conducted most recently on the lawn opposite the DuBois Fort Visitor Center is revealing an interesting variety of European and Native American artifacts along with what may the foundation of at least one early home and a protective stockade fence. Nothing of these two features remains above ground. “While we are fortunate to have some very early documents in our archives,” says Eric Roth, executive director of Historic Huguenot Street, “These alone do not explain what this settlement looked like in the years before the stone houses were built. Professor Diamond’s work has dramatically expanded our understanding of these years and of Native American presence before the Huguenots arrived.”

The talk will be held on Saturday, April 10th at 7pm at Deyo Hall, located at 6 Broadhead Avenue between North Chestnut and Huguenot Streets in downtown New Paltz. Because street work on Broadhead Avenue may be underway during this time, those attending are advised to enter on North Front Street and following the signs to Deyo Hall. More information or directions can be found by visiting www.huguenotstreet.org or by calling (845) 255-1889

Photo: Pit Showing Possible Stockade Fence Post Holes (Courtesy HHS).

Historic Huguenot St Hosts Candlelight Tour, Lecture

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Historic Huguenot Street (HHS), located on the banks of the Wallkill River where small group of French-speaking Huguenots settled in 1678, is today, just steps from downtown New Paltz. The site features seven stone houses dating to 1705, a burying ground and a reconstructed 1717 stone church – all in their original village setting.

This Friday and Saturday HHS is offering two unique programs. On Friday, a Candlelight Tour that features the historic Deyo and Jean Hasbrouck houses, and more on Saturday &#8220Before Stone: Early Structures of the New Paltz Region,&#8221 a talk offered as part of the HHS’s Second Saturdays lecture series.

Candlelight Tour

On Friday, March 12th at 7pm, HHS will present a special Candlelight Tour. In the Jean Hasbrouck House, guests will have an opportunity to experience the house as few do – by the nighttime candlelight that would have been part of every late winter evening in the 1700s. Guides will talk about how light, the scarcity of it and the need to capture as much natural light as possible informed both design and function of the houses. Unique lighting implements from the collections at Historic Huguenot Street, including the betty lamp, will be featured and discussed.

Across the street in the Deyo House, guests will experience one of the village’s finest houses just at the time that electric light has come to the village. The Brodheads, then in residence, take advantage of this new innovation, but continue to live by the soft, warm glow they knew from gas and candlelight. The result is a transition from the old to the new.

The tour will begin at 7pm in the DuBois Fort Visitor Center, where guests can enjoy a glass of wine or sparkling water before departing down a candlelit path to the museum houses. The DuBois Fort is located at 81 Huguenot Street in New Paltz.

Saturday, “Before Stone” Talk Focuses on Earliest Homes

&#8220Before Stone: Early Structures of the New Paltz Region, will be a talk offered on Saturday, March 13th as part of the Second Saturdays lecture series at Historic Huguenot Street.

Until recently, not much was known about what came before the iconic stone houses. Family histories told us that the stone houses dated to the late 1600s. Investigation and research conducted in the past several years have revealed that the houses were not built until the early 1700s. This begged the question of what the community’s early Huguenot founders lived in for almost thirty years. Archaeology on the site has also improved our understanding of how Native Americans lived on the site prior to European contact.

Architect Amanda Lewkowicz and Richard Heyl de Ortiz, Director of Community Relations at Historic Huguenot Street, will offer and informative and interesting talk about this evolving understanding of these structures. The talk will be offered on Saturday, March 13th at 7pm at the DuBois Fort Visitor Center, 81 Huguenot Street, in New Paltz. The talk is $7 per person ($5 for Friends of Huguenot Street).

Reservations are not required for either event, but are suggested. For more information, visit www.huguenotstreet.org or call (845) 255-1889.

HHS offers six acres of landscaped green space and public programming to the local community and visitors from around the world. For more information about Historic Huguenot Street, visit www.huguenotstreet.org or call (845) 255-1660.

New Paltz Talk: Early Hearths of the Hudson Valley

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Historic Huguenot Street in New Paltz is known for its unique architecture and for the preservation of the houses built by the community’s founding families. On Saturday, Huguenot Street continues its Second Saturday’s Lecture Series with a lecture by Rob Sweeney, local historian and old house enthusiast, titled &#8220Early Hearths of the Hudson Valley.&#8221

The talk will begin at 7pm on Saturday, February 13th in Deyo Hall, which is located on Broadhead Avenue between Chestnut and Huguenot Streets in downtown New Paltz. There is a $7 charge per person ($5 for Friends of Historic Huguenot Street). Refreshments will follow Sweeney’s talk. In the case of inclement weather, the talk will be postponed to February 20th.

Rob Sweeney is a board member of Hudson Valley Vernacular Architecture, the historian for the Town of Ulster and the owner of the Benjamin Ten Broeck House, a stone house built in 1751. His presentation will trace the evolution of the &#8220jambless fireplace,&#8221 a style that dates to medieval Europe and which can be found in the houses of Historic Huguenot Street, to the popularity of the &#8220Rumford Fireplace&#8221 of the early 19th century. Sweeney will also explore the role of tradition over comfort among the residents within the region.

Historic Huguenot Street (HHS), located on the banks of the Wallkill River, is where small group of French-speaking Huguenots settled in 1678. Today, just steps from downtown New Paltz, the site features seven stone houses dating to 1705, a burying ground and a reconstructed 1717 stone church – all in their original village setting. HHS offers six acres of landscaped green space and public programming to the local community and visitors from around the world.

Folk Art: New Joseph Hidley Painting Comes to Light?

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A newly discovered piece of folk art appears to be the early work of Rensselaer County artist Joseph H. Hidley. The work, a small graphite drawing signed &#8220Drawn by Joseph Hidley, 1841, age 11,&#8221 was purchased at a Massachusetts auction by Halsey Munson, a Decatur, Illinois a dealer in early American furniture, accessories and folk art. Although the authenticity of the piece has not yet been definitely established, it is an early townscape of the Hudson River village of Saugerties, similar in style and composition to Hidley’s other work.

Joseph Hidley’s short career is well represented in regional, state, and national museum collections. If authenticated, &#8220Saugerties&#8221 would be the earliest known work of Hidley who painted genre scenes, religious allegories, and land and townscapes while also working as a taxidermist and house, sign, and wagon painter.

The work is remarkably similar to a portion of William Wade and William Croome’s Panorama of the Hudson River from New York To Albany, which was published in 1846. The finding suggests that Hidley may have known William Croome, and copied his work before it was published.

The first step, according to Munson, is authenticating the work. &#8220In all of this, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time studying the published Hidley works and comparing them with the piece I have,&#8221 Munson told me via e-mail. &#8220Even allowing for my understandable desire for this piece to be right, I’ve found enough solid points of similarity to give me quite a bit of confidence that this could easily be by Joseph Hidley.&#8221

The image shows the first lighthouse at the mouth of the Esopus Creek at Saugerties, built in 1838 with funds appropriated from Congress, to guide ships away from nearby shallows and into the Esopus Creek when Saugerties was a major port. The light used five whale oil lamps with parabolic reflectors and was replaced in 1869, by a lighthouse that still stands. The foundation for the original lighthouse can still be seen adjacent to the existing lighthouse.

Photo provided by Halsey Munson.

Sound and Story of The Hudson Valley Event

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Eileen McAdam, Director of The Sound and Story Project of the Hudson Valley, will be the featured speaker during the Annual Meeting of the Friends of Senate House on Wednesday November 4th, at the Senate House Museum, 312 Fair Street in Kingston. Ms. McAdam has made it her mission to preserve and celebrate the history and culture of the Hudson Valley through recorded sound. Her Sound and Story Project includes oral history interviews, but it also encompasses many unusual sound recordings that portray this region, including the now-silenced bells of early American churches, or the sounds of bats in the caves of Rosendale. McAdam will talk about the art and method of capturing and preserving the sounds of the Hudson Valley, and the history they offer us.

The program will begin with light refreshments in the Vanderlyn Gallery at 6:30 pm, followed by a brief annual report, with the keynote address starting at 7:15 pm in the second floor gallery. The program is free and open to the public. For more information, please call (845) 338-2786, or visit www.nysparks.state.ny.us

This year the Friends of Senate House supported a diverse range of activities and events for the public, including 17th, 18th and 19th century living history events, as well as celebrations of African-American and Native-American contributions to our history, heritage and culture. The Friends of Senate House also help make possible the historic site’s many school programs, which serve schools in several counties. The November 4th event is a great opportunity for newcomers and current supporters alike to learn about the Friends’ recent activities and enjoy an entertaining evening.

Senate House State Historic Site is part of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, which administers 29 parks, parkways, and historic sites for the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation in New York as well as the Palisades Interstate Park and parkway in New Jersey. For more information about New York State parks and historic sites, please visit www.nysparks.com, for information about the New Jersey section of the PIPC please visit www.njpalisades.org, and for more information about the Palisades Parks Conservancy and the Palisades Interstate Park parks and historic sites, please visit www.palisadesparksconservancy.org.

Senate House’s African American Culture and History Festival

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Scholar on African American history in the Hudson Valley, Professor A.J. Williams-Myers, of SUNY New Paltz, will give a talk looking at the specific contributions of Africans and African Americans to the Hudson Valley’s development entitled, &#8220There is a River – A Mighty River: Social and Economic Contributions of Africans along the Hudson, from the Dutch Period to the American Revolution.&#8221 The talk, at 11:00 am on Saturday, October 3, is the kickoff event for an entire weekend of free programming: Senate House’s African American Culture and History Festival, which takes place from 11:00 am to 4:30 pm on Saturday and Sunday, October 3 and 4.

In his talk, Professor Williams-Myers examines the African at center stage in the unfolding of history along the Hudson River above New York City. Professor Williams-Myers notes: “Heretofore, the African has been marginal to that history, and his or her social, economic and military contributions have not been adequately integrated into the larger picture.” There is a River moves the African from out of the shadows of the margin and into the sunlight of center stage, while succinctly recounting his or her historical role in the unfolding of history along the mighty Hudson River.

Professor of Black Studies at the State University of New York at New Paltz, Williams-Myers is the author of numerous books, including, Long Hammering: Essays on the Forging of an African American Presence in the Hudson River Valley to the Early Twentieth Century (1994) and On the Morning Tide: African Americans, History and Methodology in the Historica (2003).

The lecture is part of a free, weekend-long festival celebrating the cultural contributions of African Americans to the Hudson River Valley, New York, and the nation. Saturday, October 3, and Sunday October 4 will include live music, dance, drama, and spoken word performances, as well as art, hands-on activities, food, and free tours of Senate House and free admission to the Senate House Museum. Some of the scheduled artists include Voices of Glory, a young a cappella threesome who are finalists on the TV show, America’s Got Talent- renowned performers Kim and Reggie Harris- The Voices of Praise choir- the Ulster County Community Choir, the Energy Dance Troupe- the SUNY New Paltz Step Dancers, Kibola Sougei African Dance Troupe, and historical dramatists Carolyn Evans (as Sojourner Truth) and Terry Gittens (as Bessie Mae).

Senate House will also debut its African American Oral History recordings, made recently in collaboration with the Ulstercorps Harvesting a Lifetime Oral History Project, conducted with residents of Ulster County, sharing with us their experiences over the past six decades.

Senate House State Historic Site is located at 296 Fair Street, Kingston, NY 12401. For more information please call (845) 338-2786, or visit the following website for more information: www.nysparks.state.ny.us.

Barnabas McHenrys Greater Hudson Heritage Award

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The Board of Trustees of Greater Hudson Heritage Network (GHHN) will confer special regional recognition to Barnabas (Barney) McHenry through presentation of the Greater Hudson Cultural Heritage Award on October 2, preceding a Historic Site Futures Forum at Bear Mountain, New York.

For 40 years Barney McHenry has worked to protect the Hudson River Valley, its heritage, culture and landscapes. As counsel to DeWitt and Lila Acheson Wallace, founders of Reader’s Digest, he was the principal architect of the Wallace Funds, which have contributed to the arts, education, humanities and the environment throughout the Hudson River Valley.

Barney McHenry demonstrates his commitment to the region as Chair of the Hudson River Valley Greenway Communities Council, Co-Chair of the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area, and Member of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, while offering valued trustee-leadership to regional historic sites through his service on the boards of Friends of the Hudson Valley and the Open Space Institute, and as Chairman of Boscobel.

A long time patron of museums throughout the Greater Hudson Heritage Network, Mr. McHenry has served on the boards of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, The New York Commission on the Restoration of the Capital and the Empire State Plaza Art Commission.

“Greater Hudson’s vision of ‘communities that value the exploration and preservation of their heritage and cultures, and are empowered to save and interpret them to future generations,’ has been furthered by the work of Barney McHenry,” affirmed Dr. Jacquetta Haley, President of the GHHN Board.

Greater Hudson Heritage Network (formerly Lower Hudson Conference of Historical Agencies & Museums), is a museum service organization that has grown over 30 years to encompass an area and cultural constituency from the Battery to Albany- engaging and informing staff, consultants and trustees of cultural heritage organizations as a catalyst to strengthen professional capacity, define and meet mission, and connect them through best practices in stewardship.

Greater Hudson’s Annual Meeting and Historic Site Futures Forum will take place on Friday, October 2, 2009 at Overlook Lodge, Bear Mountain, NY from 10am – 3pm.

The Hon. Richard Brodsky, NYS Assemblyman, 92nd District (Westchester) will address an audience of museum and historic site professionals on issues of &#8220Smart Stewardship,&#8221 as he introduces the morning Historic Site Futures Forum and panel speakers.

The Cultural Heritage Award presentation and Futures Forum will be followed by a buffet luncheon, election of GHHN trustees, and the afternoon presentation of 14 Awards Towards Excellence for organizations and projects selected from submitted nominations by a peer jury, chaired by Greater Hudson trustee Jennifer Plick.

The Greater Hudson Heritage Network’s Awards Towards Excellence program seeks to recognize and commend exceptional efforts among GHHN members. Awards are made to projects and organizations that exemplify creativity and professional vision resulting in a contribution to the preservation and interpretation of the historic scene, material culture and diversity of the Greater Hudson region- from the Battery to Albany.

2009 Awards Towards Excellence are presented to:

BOSCOBEL HOUSE & GARDENS, Garrison, NY (Putnam) for the exhibition, Home on the Hudson: Women and Men Painting Landscapes, 1825-1875. This award is in recognition of the continued effort to explore the works of Hudson River School painters particularly those done by women artists and for incorporating the research of doctoral students in the exhibit catalog.

CLARKSTOWN TOWN CLERK, DAVID CARLUCCI, New City, NY (Rockland) for the preservation of the Town of Clarkstown’s historical records. This award is in recognition of the Town Clerk’s program to preserve, digitize and make accessible over 250 years of town records that, in many cases, are too fragile to be handled.

CONSTITUTION ISLAND ASSOCIATION, INC., West Point, NY (Orange) for the film, “Constitution Island: American Landmark.” This award is in recognition of the endeavor to raise awareness of the historic and cultural significance of the site and its use as an educational tool.

SAMUEL DORSKY MUSEUM OF ART, New Paltz, NY (Ulster) and NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY, New York (NY) for the exhibition and publication, The Hudson River to Niagara Falls: 19th Century American Landscape Paintings from the New-York Historical Society. This award is in recognition of a collaboration that re-interprets the landscape collections of the New-York Historical Society by exploring the importance of the region as a cultural site in the 19th century through the works of Hudson River School artists.

HISTORIC HUGUENOT STREET, New Paltz, NY (Ulster) for the exhibition Before Hudson: 8,000 Years of Native American History and Culture. This award is in recognition of the exhibit and public programming that advances regional history by exploring the history of the native inhabitants of the area using archaeological findings.

KATHLEEN EAGAN JOHNSON, Historic Hudson Valley, Tarrytown, NY (Westchester) for the publication, The Hudson-Fulton Celebration: New York’s River Festival and the Making of a Metropolis, co-published by Fordham University Press and Historic Hudson Valley. This award is in recognition of the extensive research and in-depth study of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration of 1909 and its impact on New York City.

LYNDHURST and WESTCHESTER COUNTY, Tarrytown, NY (Westchester) for the public program and community collaboration, Hudson River Fest: A Search for the Past, Present, and Future. This award is in recognition of a collaborative program that celebrated Westchester’s historic ties to the river and land, and explored the respectful stewardship of these important but fragile resources.

MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE &#8211 A LIVING MEMORIAL TO THE HOLOCAUST, New York (NY) for the creation of an on-line collection resource. This award is in recognition of an innovative program that invites the public to browse artifacts in a dynamic and user-friendly environment. The online Collection offers information unavailable in the Museum.

NEVERSINK VALLEY AREA MUSUEM, Cuddebackville, NY (Orange) for the exhibit, “The Star is Born: A History of the Movie Star in America from Florence Lawrence and Valentino to Heath Ledger” and a program on women in early films. This award is in recognition of new audience-driven local history programming.

NEW CASTLE HISTORICAL SOCIETY and EAGLE SCOUT MICHAEL MARTINEZ, New Castle, NY (Westchester) for documentation of the Chappaqua Friends’ Graveyard. This award is in recognition of the extensive research, detailed documentation and creation of a searchable database for over 1,000 markers in the local graveyard dating back to 1745.

THE OLANA PARTNERSHIP and NEW YORK STATE OFFICE OF PARKS, RECREATION, AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION, Hudson, NY (Columbia) for a new gallery, inaugural exhibit, “Glories of the Hudson: Frederic Edwin Church’s Views from Olana” and its exhibition catalog. This award is in recognition of a public-private effort to broaden the scope of the historic house museum, and a valuable collaborative marketing concept.

THE KNICKERBOCKER ICE FESTIVAL OF 2009: TIMOTHY ENGLERT, CO-FOUNDER & PROJECT DIRECTOR, ROBERT PATALANO, CO-FOUNDER & ICE SCULPTOR, CHRISTIAN NIELSEN, ROCKLAND LAKE STATE PARK SUPERINTENDENT, MARIA RODD, 2009 EVENT PLANNER, ROSEMARIE MONACO, 2009 PR/MARKETING DIRECTOR, GRETCHEN WEERHEIM, 2009 HISTORIC EDUCATION DIRECTOR & HIS
TORICAL SOCIETY OF ROCKLAND COUNTY DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, HEATHER DUKE, ROCKLAND COUNTY DIRECTOR OF TOURISM This award recognizes the collaborative efforts of a dedicated group of professionals to create and excite the public about local history.

LAKEVILLE-IRONWORKS EDUCATIONAL TRAIL and MATTHEW SHOOK, Sterling Forest, Tuxedo, NY (Orange) This award is in recognition Matthew Shook’s dedication, leadership and collaborative skills in bringing together the PIPC, State Historic Preservation Office, NY/NJ Trail Conference, and Rutgers University to preserve, interpret and make accessible to the public a neglected historical resource.

PUTNAM COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY & FOUNDRY SCHOOL MUSEUM, DR. TRUDIE GRACE and DAVID DEARINGER, Cold Spring, NY (Putnam) for the exhibition catalog accompanying the exhibition, George Pope Morris: Defining American Culture. This award is in recognition of the extensive, scholarly research undertaken into the life of George Pope Morris of Cold Spring, and his contribution to 19th century American publishing, music and poetry.

For registration information about Greater Hudson Heritage Network’s October 2, 2009
Annual Meeting, Futures Forum, and Awards presentations at Overlook Lodge, Bear Mountain, please see: www.greaterhudson.org, or contact GHHN: 914.592.6726- [email protected].

Senate House State Historic Site Celebrates Heritage Weekend

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Senate House State Historic Site will celebrate New York State’s first annual Heritage Weekend by offering free admission to the site, free tours of Senate House, and demonstrations of 18th-century crafts and amusements on Saturday and Sunday, September 12 and 13. Visitors will be able to tour the first meeting place of New York’s elected Senate, which is also among the earliest homes built in Kingston’s historic Stockade district. The site’s museum collections include art and objects reflecting three centuries of mid-Hudson Valley history, including paintings by John Vanderlyn and other early American artists. Site staff will demonstrate 18th-century crafts, and introduce children to the toys of the past. The site’s special exhibition, Archives Alive!!, features highlights from the site’s extensive collection of documents.

On Sunday, September 13, at 2:00 pm, a free author’s talk and book signing by A. J. Schenkman will feature his recent book, Washington’s Headquarters in Newburgh: Home to a Revolution, published by The History Press. Senate House State Historic Site is open 10:00 to 5:00 pm on Saturday, and 1:00 to 5:00 pm on Sunday. It is located at 296 Fair Street, Kingston, NY 12401. For more information call (845) 338-2786, or visit www.nysparks.state.ny.us.