This photograph of Christopher J. Freer, seated at a two-harness loom, weaving rag carpeting, was donated by the subject’s maternal grandson. It was later discovered that the image shows the interior of the Bevier-Elting House, ca. 1900, where Freer was conducting his trade as a weaver. Articles in the New Paltz Independent, dated Jun 2nd and Sept 15th, 1905, corroborate that Freer was weaving carpets in the front room of the old “Elting Homestead” on Huguenot Street.
With summer travels beginning, the Collections department wants to share this travel case of Mabel R. Gerow with you! Mabel was born in 1870 in Vineland, New Jersey and was a descendant of Daniel Giraud (b. 1664/1665 d. before 1757). Daniel Giraud was early Huguenot settler and likely fled from La Rochelle, France to Westchester County, NY. Daniel's grandson, also named Daniel, and Mabel's ancestor, moved to Ulster and became a prominent family in the area.
Joseph McGill, Jr. is the founder of @slavedwellingproject and a history consultant for Magnolia Plantation in Charleston, SC. By arranging for people to sleep in extant slave dwellings, the Slave Dwelling Project has brought much needed attention to these often-neglected structures that are vitally important to the American built environment. Since 2018, McGill has conducted over 250 overnights in approximately 100 different sites in 19 states and the District of Columbia, including Historic Huguenot Street.
Though children of both Indigenous and European descent in the 18th century spent much of their time performing chores and learning the trades and traditions of their elders, they still had downtime to play games and read or listen to stories! Many games played by Indigenous children were meant to teach them skills which would be useful in the tasks they would carry out as adults. For instance, boys typically partook in sports which taught them agility, dexterity, strength, and stamina, which were useful for both hunting and warfare. Girls would often create and play with dolls made out of natural materials such as cornhusks in order to learn the skills needed for childcare within their community. Indigenous children would also sit down to listen to stories from the elders in the community. In Esopus Munsee culture especially, storytelling was extremely important. Stories passed between generations taught children about how the Earth and its spirits came to be, why seasons and the weather changed, and how to respectfully interact with the Earth and its many inhabitants.
Not too far from Huguenot Street in West Park, NY, is a cabin built by renowned naturalist John Burroughs and his son, Julian, in 1895. Up until Burroughs’ death in 1921, the cabin called Slabsides (named after the logs used that still contain their bark) welcomed thousands of visitors, including this group of women in 1904. Clearly influenced by Burroughs, these women may have also read Susan Fenimore Cooper’s “Rural Hours,” or possibly more contemporary naturalist women writers such as Gene Statton-Porter or Mary Austin.
