NEWS RELEASE:
Historic Huguenot Street Constructing Replica Native American Wigwam
to Celebrate 340th Anniversary of New Paltz Land Agreement

NEW PALTZ, NY (April 7, 2017) – Historic Huguenot Street is pleased to announce that it is constructing a replica Munsee Native American wigwam to celebrate the 340th anniversary of the signing of the 1677 land agreement between the Munsee Esopus sachems and the Huguenot Refugees.  The land agreement provided for the 12 Huguenot founders to “purchase” nearly 40,000 acres of land in the lower Wallkill Valley. The village that developed within the borders of this land is now known as New Paltz.

Today, despite suffering multiple forced removals from their homelands, Munsee people continue to thrive as several federally-recognized Indian Nations in Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Canada. The wigwam will serve as an ongoing testament to the Munsee Esopus people who first populated this land.

Native American crafts expert and museum consultant Barry Keegan has already begun authentically constructing the replica wigwam on the DuBois Fort lawn and using locally sourced materials. Keegan is the former Supervisor of Native American Programs at the New York State Historical Association and Farmer’s Museum in Cooperstown, NY.  He has constructed over 70 wigwams and longhouses for museums, nature centers, and educational institutions, and regularly demonstrates early technologies for these organizations, as well as others such as the History Channel.

The wigwam will be under construction through the spring. During the week of April 10–14, New Paltz school children, college students, and members of the community will help build the wigwam during scheduled sessions.  All who are interested are invited to observe the wigwam’s creation, free of charge, during the duration of its construction.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to build a traditional indigenous structure on Huguenot Street,” said Kara Gaffken, Director of Public Programming. “The wigwam will provide a chance for visitors to develop a greater understanding and appreciation of our local Munsee Esopus history and culture.”

Historic Huguenot Street will incorporate the wigwam into its regularly scheduled tours, set to begin May 6, although those who attend the Museum’s Spring Celebration on April 29 will have an exclusive opportunity to tour the wigwam, hear Keegan discuss his process and the daily life of the Munsee, as well as meet Bonney Hartley, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Nation. Over the course of the season, Keegan will additionally create arrows, axes, buckskin, fire-making tools and pottery, recreating the daily life of the Munsee people.

For an exclusive preview and tour of Historic Huguenot Street’s replica historic home, the wigwam, please visit www.huguenotstreet.org/springreception to purchase tickets to the Museum’s Spring Celebration.

Funding for the wigwam, and its related educational programming, was generously provided by the Vernon D. and Florence E. Roosa Family Foundation Memorial Fund of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, and by the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area.

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