Historic Huguenot Street and the 5th New York Regiment
To Host Revolutionary War Encampment July 1

NEW PALTZ, NY (June 16, 2017) – Historic Huguenot Street will host a Revolutionary War encampment on Saturday, July 1, with the 5th New York Regiment. Reenactors will set up camp on the DuBois Fort lawn (81 Huguenot Street) on the evening on Friday, June 30, and spend the night, performing a number of demonstrations throughout the day on Saturday, beginning at 9 am.  The original 5th New York Regiment included many soldiers from Orange and Ulster counties.

At the camp site, living historians from the 5th New York Regiment will demonstrate marching and drilling, showing how arms at the time were handled and fired. An armament demonstration will display various types of muskets and weaponry while members of the regiment explain how they were used, fired, and maintained. Bayonet target demonstrations will take place at 11:30 am, and a bayonet competition will occur at 3 pm. Wedge-style tents and a dining “fly” will serve as the backdrop on the Huguenot Street grounds.

Additional demonstrations and displays will reveal aspects of civilian life, including candle making, blacksmithing, woodworking, musket ball and cartridge manufacturing, and colonial cooking. Children can participate in reenactment military drills and various colonial games. There will be a display and discussion of colonial period clothing at 1 pm, and public Q&A session at 4 pm. While at the Museum, guests can also visit an exhibit of Revolution-era documents relating to the story of Roelof Josiah Eltinge (1737-1795) in the DuBois Fort Visitor Center.

“This annual encampment and reenactment is an engaging educational opportunity, giving guests of all ages an idea of how both soldiers and civilians from our own region actually lived during the Revolutionary War,” said Kara Gaffken, Director of Public Programming. The encampment is free and open to the public, rain or shine.

Guided house tours will be available on their regular hourly schedule throughout the day. For more information, visit huguenotstreet.org.

A National Historic Landmark District, Historic Huguenot Street is a 501(c)3 non-profit that encompasses 30 buildings across 10 acres that was the heart of the original 1678 New Paltz settlement, including seven stone houses that date to the early eighteenth century.  It was founded in 1894 as the Huguenot Patriotic, Historical, and Monumental Society to preserve the nationally acclaimed collection of stone houses. Since then, Historic Huguenot Street has grown into an innovative museum, chartered as an educational corporation by the University of the State of New York, that is dedicated to protecting our historic buildings, conserving an important collection of artifacts and manuscripts, and promoting the stories of the Huguenot Street families, from the sixteenth century to today. 

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Contact
Kaitlin Gallucci
Director of Marketing & Communications
(845) 255-1660
media@huguenotstreet.org