300 Years of History in the Heart of New Paltz, New York

In 1678, a small but brave group of French-speaking Huguenot refugees from what is today southern Belgium and northern France set out to create a community of their own — and so began an American Story that continues today.

Their search led them to the Esopus Indians, with whom they negotiated the purchase of 40,000 acres in what we know as New York's Mid-Hudson Valley. This final stop on their journey they named New Paltz. Here on the banks of the Wallkill River in the shadow of the Shawangunk Mountains, they toiled and their families thrived. Around the community they started, a special and diverse village grew.

Historic Huguenot Street is a National Historic Landmark District featuring seven unique stone houses dating to the early 1700s, a burial ground and a reconstructed 1717 stone church, all in their original village setting. Our six landscaped acres are surrounded by a riverside nature preserve, yet just steps from the shopping and dining of downtown New Paltz. At Locust Lawn, a gentleman's farm featuring a striking Jeffersonian mansion, the story of these industrious people continues.

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