New Netherland Marketplace, 1645: A Living History Event

Saturday May 14th 10:00 am to 5:00 pm & Sunday May 15th 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Thank you to everyone who came out for this event! To our wonderful reenactors and to our visitors. A big thank you to our sponsors and everyone who helped the program happen. Please enjoy these pictures!

This is a Free Event, No Pre-Registration is Required.

Historic Huguenot Street invites you to a mid-17th century marketplace, where you’ll discover Indigenous and Dutch reenactors sharing their craftsmanship and culture, and portraying life in 1645 New Netherland. Living historians portraying Dutch merchants, traders, and craftspeople will be offering demonstrations on leather and wood working, hearth cooking, tailoring, wampum making, musket firing, and more. The marketplace will also include displays of camp gear and furs, clothing, wooden bowls, and spoons for sale.

Delaware and Lenape representatives will be returning to their ancestral homelands to portray the life of their ancestors and their economic relationship with the Dutch. Their camp will have ongoing open fire cooking, cordage making, bow shooting, flintknapping, arrow making, and hide tanning demonstrations throughout the weekend. Enrolled members of the Delaware Tribe of Indians (Bartlesville, OK), the Delaware Nation (Anadarko, OK), and the Delaware Nation at Moraviantown (Thamesville, Ontario) will be present, representing their people and culture, and speaking about their communities today.

 
 
 

Guided Historic House Tours

11 AM, 11:30 AM, 12 PM, 3 PM, and 3:30 PM.

Tours last about an hour and guide visitors to the replica Esopus Munsee wigwam, the community’s original burying ground, into the reconstructed 1717 French stone church, and through the iconic Jean Hasbrouck House. Explore New Paltz’s multi-cultural past through our historic interpretation that covers the lives of the region’s Indigenous people, French Protestant colonists, the Africans they enslaved, and the free Black community.


Tour capacity is limited, so pre-registration is highly encouraged.

 

Schedule of Events

10:00 AM: Marketplace opens to the public

10:00 AM: Opening remarks from HHS President Liselle LaFrance, followed by a prayer presented by Delaware Nation at Moraviantown community elder Theresa Johnson (Saturday Only)

11:00 AM: African folktales and storytelling

12:00 PM: Swords in the Street: Keeping the Peace in 17th century New Netherland demonstration (Saturday only)

When European colonists transported their lives and cultures to the Americas, they also brought their fighting traditions with them. Come learn about the martial arts of the 17th century Hudson valley as Ian Mumpton and Steven Woods demonstrate non-lethal English and Dutch wrestling, knife-fighting, and swordplay techniques of the period used to keep the peace in the face of interpersonal colonial violence.

1:00 PM: African folktales and storytelling

2:00 PM: Cut Me In: The Martial Arts of the Dutch Colonial Empire demonstration (Saturday only)

While often thought of as a mercantile culture, the 17th century Dutch colonial empire was born out of conflict and quick to adopt and employ martial traditions from around the world in pursuit of trading profits. Learn what those martial arts looked like as Ian Mumpton and Steven Woods demonstrate the lethal side of 17th century swordsmanship and close-quarters combat.

3:00 PM: Meet Schout and Jonkheer, Adriaen van der Donck who played an important role in early New Netherland. Presented by Rick Vanden Heuvel.

5:00 PM Saturday/4:00 PM Sunday: Event concludes

Meet the Reenactors

Click on the image below to read each reenactor’s biography.

 

Visitor Policies

This event is free and open to the public. Visitor are not required to wear face covering while in attendance, nor are they required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination. Appropriate face covering is neither required in the Visitor Center or while on tours of the historic structures, though it is encouraged in order to protect our staff and community, as well as immuno-comprised and unvaccinated individuals.

This event will portray and interpret historical topics such as colonialism, slavery, racial discrimination, weaponry and martial arts in the 17th century. Parental supervision is required for children under 13. 

Photography is allowed on the grounds and in the historic structures. However, no flash photography is allowed in the historic structures. Food and beverage is not allowed on tours. Visitors may not consume food prepared by the event’s demonstrators. Please do not touch, sit, or lean on anything in the historic houses, unless you are explicitly told you may do so. Please do not touch, sit, or lean on any of the reenactors props or personal items unless you are explicitly told you may do so.

Historic Huguenot Street grounds are open from dawn to dusk.

If you have any questions about the event, the historic house tours, or the site's accessibility, please feel free to info@huguenotstreet.org

It is with gratitude and humility that we acknowledge that we in the Hudson Valley are learning, speaking, and gathering on the ancestral homelands of the Munsee Lenape people, who are indigenous to this land. We pay honor and respect to their ancestors past and present, and we at Historic Huguenot Street are committed to building a more inclusive and equitable space for all.

The Lenape people are proud of their heritage. Historic Huguenot Street continually increases its efforts to consult with these affiliated Native Nations and achieve common goals of cultural preservation through archaeological excavations, research, and educational programs. To learn more about their communities today and their preservation work in their Hudson Valley homelands, please visit these online resources:

Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band of Mohican Indians

Munsee-Delaware Nation

Delaware Tribe of Indians

Delaware Nation

Delaware Nation at Moraviantown

 
 

Thank you to the New Paltz Police Department and the Department of Environmental Conservation Region 3 Forest Rangers for guidance in our events’ historic weaponry and fire-safety management. 

This program received significant funding through support provided by Rob D. Nagel, in recognition of the excellent Indigenous programs at Historic Huguenot Street.  

 

 
 
 

This program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. 

This program is funded in part by a Humanities New York SHARP Grant with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the federal American Rescue Plan Act

Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.