NEWS RELEASE: Historic Huguenot Street To Host July 4 Revolutionary War Reenactment

NEW PALTZ, NY (June 19, 2015) – Historic Huguenot Street will host a Revolutionary War reenactment on July 4, “New Paltz in the War for Independence.” Featuring members of the 5th New York Regiment, reenactors will camp on the DuBois Fort lawn (81 Huguenot Street) and perform a number of demonstrations throughout the day.

At the camp site, visitors will see wedge-style tents and a dining “fly” as they would have been used during the Revolution. Living historians 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. 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 original 5th New York Regiment included many soldiers from Orange and Ulster counties,” explained Kara Gaffken, Director of Public Programming. “With the guidance of the living historians of the regiment, guests will have an engaging opportunity to discover how both soldiers and civilians from our own region actually lived during the Revolutionary War.”

In addition to the reenactment, a new exhibit of Revolutionary War objects from the Historic Huguenot Street Archives and Permanent Collection will be on display in the DuBois Fort. The exhibit “’By the Grace of God, Free and Independent:’ The Revolutionary War in Ulster County” will be on display through Sunday, August 2. Both the reenactment activities and the exhibit are free and open to the public.

Guided tours and In-the-Moment tours of Historic Huguenot Street will be available throughout the day. 

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