Heleen Westerhuijs - Exploring historic Dutch New York : New York City, Hudson Valley, New Jersey, and Delaware

Exploring Historic
Dutch New York

New York City, Hudson Valley,
New Jersey, and Delaware

Gajus Scheltema and Heleen Westerhuijs, editors

MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
DOVER PUBLICATIONS

Copyright

Copyright 2011 by Museum of the City of New York

All rights reserved.

Bibliographical Note

Exploring Historic Dutch New York: New York City * Hudson Valley * New Jersey * Delaware, first published in 2011, is a new work, published jointly by the Museum of the City of New York and Dover Publications, Inc.

International Standard Book Number

ISBN-13: 978-0-486-83493-1

ISBN-10: 0-486-83493-X

Manufactured in the United States by LSC Communications
83493X01 2018

www.doverpublications.com

TITLE PAGE: Map of New Netherland, with a view of

New Amsterdam (now New York) A.D. 1656 by

Adriaen van der Donck, lithograph copied for

D.T. Valentines Manual, 1852 by Geo. Haywards.

The New-York Historical Society.

THIS PUBLICATION WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY

MAJOR SPONSORSHIP WAS ALSO PROVIDED BY

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT HAS BEEN RECEIVED FROM

Atlantic Investment Management

Sybase Inc.

Van Dyk Baler Corp.

Rosabianca & Associates, PLLC

Hogan Lovells

Alston + Bird LLP

Furthermore: A Program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund

Ted Moudis

The Society of Daughters of Holland Dames

Susan Henshaw Jones

Gajus Scheltema and Heleen Westerhuijs

Russell Shorto

Topical Essays

Jaap Jacobs

Robert Braeken

Walter Liedtke

David William Voorhees

Peter G. Rose

Nicoline van der Sijs

Annette Stott

Gajus Scheltema

Heleen Westerhuijs

Lori Weintrob

Elizabeth Bradley

Hans Krabbendam

Paul Finkelman

Francis J. Sypher

Roderic Blackburn

Jaap Jacobs

Nicoline van der Sijs

OPPOSITE: Van Dusen House, Claverack (detail). Note the pigeon holes, and weaved brick courses.

Foreword

The year 2009, in which we celebrated the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudsons voyage across the Atlantic, served as a wonderful opportunity for the Museum of the City of New York to consider New Yorks Dutch heritage. In the exhibition Amsterdam/New Amsterdam: The Worlds of Henry Hudson, the epiphany was that there is much Dutch in the character of the city today. The Dutch established the colony of New Netherland and welcomed ambitious people of all kinds Walloons, Huguenots, Germans, French, English, and Jews who would help make it profitable. By 1643 there were 18 languages spoken in New Amsterdam.

New Netherland was a very different place from neighboring colonies. Its uncommon diversity, focus on commerce, and contentious politics seeded the character of this mid-Atlantic region in the 21st century. Thus, the Museum is happy to participate in a project that is essentially an outgrowth of the 400th anniversary celebration a guidebook that documents the surviving tangible elements of the Dutch past in present-day New York, New Jersey, and parts of Delaware. As the pages of this book show, the legacy of this regions Dutch origins is still evident, not only in place names and historic sites, but most visibly in the distinctive domestic architecture of surviving Dutch colonial buildings and adaptations of Dutch styles. Examples of gambrel roofs, step gables, and Dutch split doors can be seen today, along with the mid-19th-century Dutch Colonial Revival style. This book can be your guide to this fascinating architectural legacy.

Gajus Scheltema conceived of this book and, with his coeditor, Heleen Westerhuijs, developed the concept. Roald Smeets of the Citco Group of Companies, who co-chaired the Museums 2009 exhibition Amsterdam/New Amsterdam: The Worlds of Henry Hudson, was the catalyst for this ambitious project and the driving force throughout its creation.

The Museum is also grateful for the generosity of EvensonBest LLC, whose co-founder, Vernon Evenson, is a Museum trustee; Deloitte; Alexander Roepers of Atlantic Investment Management, who also co-chaired the Amsterdam/New Amsterdam exhibition; Van Dyk Baler Corp.; Sybase; Rosabianca & Associates, PLLC; Hogan Lovells; Furthermore, a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund; Alston+Bird LLP; Ted Moudis; and The Society of Daughters of Holland Dames.

Paul Carlos and Kari Johanesen of Pure+Applied have created a marvelous design for the book. Dr. Sarah Henry and Kathleen Benson, with the assistance of intern Grace-Yvette Gemmel, have kept all the parts of the project moving forward. Natalie Shivers edited the texts, Gwen Smith created the illustration program, and Henk van Assen and Jiashan Wu produced the maps.

I hope you will enjoy revisiting our regions Dutch past.

Susan Henshaw Jones

Ronay Menschel Director

Museum of the City of New York

OPPOSITE: Dutch-inscribed tombstone in Reformed Church of Flatbush Cemetery, Brooklyn.

Editors Notes

The 400th anniversary of the famous voyage of Henry Hudson on his ship, the Half Moon (Halve Maen), was celebrated extensively in New York City and State in 2009. Hudsons exploration had led to the birth of the Dutch colony of New Netherland and its primary settlement, New Amsterdam, which lasted about half a century before the surrender to the British.

The NY400 festivities inspired among many other events over 30 English-language publications on the history of American-Dutch relations. At the time, however, we felt that one book was still to be written: a travel guide that would introduce a modern-day explorer to the Dutch legacy in New York, New Jersey and Delaware. Exploring Historic Dutch New York