300 Years of History in the Heart of New Paltz, New York

After decades of sojourn and relocation, a group of twelve Huguenot refugees from what is today northern France and southern Belgium and linked by family, religion, and friendship purchased nearly 40,000 acres along the Wallkill River in the Hudson Valley.  They purchased this land from the native Esopus Indians, thus establishing a permanent home where they could pursue their Protestant faith free from religious and political persecution. They named the new town after die Pfalz, the region along the Rhine River where they had found temporary refuge before journeying to the new world.

The families began replacing their temporary homes in the early 1700s with stone houses along what is now known as Huguenot Street, seven of which survive today.  The houses were added to over the first century or so of their existence to provide more comfortable living arrangements, and today the domestic environments of the colonial period and the early years of the Republic are preserved to inspire and to educate. While four of the houses are similar to their early appearance, the National Historic Landmark district also includes three original stone houses that were altered in the 1830s, the 1890s, and the 1940s, enabling three hundred years of history to be told on the street, displaying both continuity and change in American history. 

Beginning in the 1890s, these homes came into the possession of the Historic Huguenot Street with the generous assistance of its affiliated family associations, the members of which are descended from the original founders and early residents of the community. Today the houses are furnished with period and heirloom artifacts, many of which descended through the families.  Through the preservation of this remarkable site, we have the opportunity to enjoy and investigate the origins and development of our distinctly American culture.