NEWS RELEASE: Historic Huguenot Street Will Host Revolutionary War Reenactment with the 5th New York Regiment

NEW PALTZ, NY (June 17, 2016) – Following the success of last year’s July 4th event, Historic Huguenot Street will host a Revolutionary War reenactment on Saturday, July 2 with members of the 5th New York Regiment. Reenactors will set up camp on the DuBois Fort lawn (81 Huguenot Street) on the evening on Friday, July 1, and spend the night, performing a number of demonstrations throughout the day on Saturday. 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. Wedge-style tents and a dining “fly” as they would have been used during the Revolution 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. The reenactment is free and open to the public.

“This reenactment will be an engaging educational opportunity for all ages,” said Kara Gaffken, Director of Public Programming. “We’re so happy to have the 5th New York Regiment back this year to show our guests how both soldiers and civilians from our own region actually lived during the Revolutionary War.”

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
Communications & Marketing Manager
(845) 255-1660
media@huguenotstreet.org