Hugeunot St. New Paltz, Cool History

Though it was a hot day yesterday I got up early to walk Huguenot St. in New Paltz. It is the oldest street in the US that still has the original dwellings. The French Huguenots settled there in 1677 with eleven families and a royal land grant of 39,000 acres. Descendents of those families still make up a good portion of the town today. The street gave me chills in the hot humid air, the guts it took to settle in the midst of the wilderness was sheer bravery. The right to practice their religious beliefs must have had a powerful hold on these French settlers. I copied some pages from a terrific website loaded with history and facts about the houses. So much to see close to home, it is just amazing in a non- Williamsburg way.

http://www.hvnet.com/museums/huguenotst/