Inaugural Spring Celebration in Honor of the Munsee

Join us on April 29th for our inaugural Spring Celebration and immerse yourself in the history and culture of the Munsee, the first people of the Hudson Valley! The event will honor the Esopus Munsee and commemorate the 340th anniversary of the signing of the 1677 land agreement between the Esopus Munsee and the Huguenot refugees who established the New Paltz Patent. The evening will feature a variety of opportunities that highlight both Historic Huguenot Street’s efforts at preserving Esopus Munsee history and culture and its long term partnership with the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Nation. The event will culminate in a presentation by Ms. Bonney Hartley, Stockbridge-Munsee Tribal Historic Preservation Officer and a member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Nation.

Guests will have the exclusive opportunity to preview and engage with an authentically-constructed replica wigwam currently being built on site with locally sourced materials. Barry Keegan, Munsee Native American crafts expert and museum consultant, will be on hand to talk about its construction, and to utilize the wigwam—along with his replicas of bows, arrows, axes, dugout canoes, fire-making tools, and pottery—to recreate Esopus Munsee culture and life as it would have existed in the region at the time of the Agreement.

In further recognition of this momentous year, Historic Huguenot Street will display the original 1677 manuscript carrying the marks of the five Esopus signers, their twenty-three Sachem witnesses, along with the signatures of the twelve Huguenot patentees and their sixteen witnesses, as well as Sir Edmund Andros, Governor of New York. The accompanying exhibition will showcase Esopus Munsee artifacts found during the Museum’s decades-long archaeological study conducted in partnership with the State University of New York College at New Paltz, and led by Anthropologist Dr. Joseph Diamond.

To register or become a sponsor for this event, please visit huguenotstreet.org/springcelebration. Individual admission is $50; sponsorships range from $500 to $5,000. If you prefer to register by phone, or for questions about sponsorship call Shane Stuart at (845) 255-1660 x 103.

Hors d’oeuvres, wine, and other beverages will be served. Parking will be available in the lots on Broadhead Avenue around the corner from the DuBois Fort.

Watercolor by Josephine Bloodgood