Historic Huguenot Street is pleased to present the tenth Southern Ulster County historic house tour, Historic Houses and Landscapes of Western New Paltz, focusing on homes west of the Wallkill in the Town of New Paltz. The virtual tour will be available online beginning September 26, 2021.
This innovative virtual tour explores the legacy of New Paltz’s farming communities west of the Wallkill: the Springtown, Butterville, and Libertyville hamlets, and the Guilford Neighborhood in Gardiner. Situated on the rich alluvial floodplains and sweeping plateaus above, interspersed with wetlands and wooded areas, western New Paltz lies between Rosendale and Gardiner, and the Wallkill River and the Shawangunk Mountains. Settled predominantly by Huguenots in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, in an area long inhabited by the Munsee Lenni Lenape, an exception was a small Quaker community that emerged around Butterville at the turn of the 19th-century.
Featured are ten vernacular and stately homesteads nestled in picturesque locations, overlooking the Wallkill River or on high ridges above with commanding views. These homes include the oldest stone houses still standing, Greek Revival and Italianate frame dwellings, striking Federal and Gothic Revival brick homesteads, and a contemporary vision built almost entirely of salvaged wood from Montana—several are on the National Register of Historic Places.
The tour, presented in video format, was produced by professional videographer and local resident Robert Fagan, featuring aerial-view landscapes and intimate close-ups, narrative passages, interviews with homeowners, and interior scenes. Music for the film has been contributed by Jay Ungar and Molly Mason. Nancy Beard narrates the story. Cara Lee is the film's tour guide and interviewer. A link to a detailed booklet accompanies the film and provides a fascinating history of the area and richly detailed research on the houses.
The tenth in a decade of annual historic house tours in southern Ulster, the virtual tour provides new and stunning perspectives on this area and its treasures. First conceived in 2010 under the auspices of the Wallkill Valley Land Trust, the program has evolved over the years into a long-term research project focused on the region’s compelling history and cultural heritage, and its natural beauty and rich resources. Stewardship has been a prevailing theme throughout this endeavor—stimulating broader appreciation and engagement in historic preservation and land conservation.
$25 general admission