Rain did dampen the Juneteenth festivities on Huguenot Street this year, to the extent that repeated torrential downpours can send groups scurrying indoors and removing some of the scheduled outdoor activities from the schedule. In no way did it appear to dampen spirits, or the sense of community among those who gathered to celebrate one of the earliest faltering steps taken by the people of the United States toward joining a civilized world in which humans do not own other humans as property. Children quickly pivoted from structured play to running toy trucks through rivers of mud. Adults abandoned musical acts under a tent in favor of gathering in camaraderie upon the porch of the old fort. Operators of the food trucks may not have gotten quite as much business as on a sunny June day, but everyone was there to celebrate a significant moment in history.
June 19, 1865 marked the enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas, closing a painful chapter in American history, it put the final nail in the coffin of human enslavement, but that concept had been withering in other parts of the nation for decades. Slaves had been gradually freed in New York from 1799-1827, in a compromise drawn out to that extent due to the stiff resistance of Dutch legislators, according to Eddie Moran, Ulster County’s historian. Moran spent part of Juneteenth conducting walking tours of the free black neighborhood that was organized by the “rising generation” of former slaves in New Paltz, and expanded in large part thanks to one of the first African Americans to be born free in the area, Jacob Wynkoop.
Huguenot Street was the center of activity in New Paltz in the early 19th century, and the first heads of households of this rising generation established themselves on the outskirts of the community: Mulberry Street, around where Church Street would eventually be constructed. The first such families to appear in census records were headed by the Cezaer and Elizabeth Elting, and Jack and Maria Dubois. They purchased plots no later than 1831. Jane Deyo Wynkoop was a neighbor, who was living on the land now known as 66 Church Street as early as 1830, and purchasing a lot there in 1840. Early New Paltz lots were long strips that extended from the banks of the Wallkill to the less fertile land farther away, and it was bits of land more distant from the river that were sold off.
Jane Deyo Wynkoop had at least two children, John and Jacob. John was born a week before the long period of gradual emancipation under state law ended on July 4, 1827, and thus was obligated to work for Jane’s former enslaver until the age of 21. Jacob was born free in 1829. Moran believes that the nature of gradual emancipation was part of why this neighborhood came to be; this was the first generation with the opportunity to keep their families from being torn asunder, and they did what they must. Moran said that Jacob likely grew up with Jane, but that nothing is known about John’s experiences growing up under the mantle of ownership.
A life of freedom didn’t bring with it any assets, which in New York at the time were essential to fully participating in public life. Black men could not vote in the state unless they had at least $250 in assets; Wynkoop first voted in 1850, and helped establish a local “colored Republican club” in the community. Jacob’s brother John was also a community leader, an elder of the AME Zion Church of New Paltz who led prayer meetings at home at 15 Mulberry Street, a building which still stands.
Jacob was a self-taught carpenter who built homes for many New Paltz land owners, regardless of their own racial background. Among those still standing is the Ann Oliver house at 5 Broadhead Avenue, which is slated to become the home of the Dr. Margaret Wade-Lewis Center for Black History and Culture, and also part of Deyo Hall down the street. The latter Wynkoop built for Anna Banks in 1894. Banks never lived there, using its rental income as a means of financial support. It was donated to what’s now called Historic Huguenot Street in 1976, and when it was connected to the adjacent building with an addition, elements of Wynkoop’s signature carpentry style were erased. The former Wynkoop built in 1885; it was derelict in recent years and may have been demolished if not for the attentiveness of local historians keeping more of this history from being erased.
The AME Zion Church of New Paltz lasted until 1915, signaling the end of a decline of this vibrant enclave within New Paltz. It’s unclear exactly why the historic neighborhood which underpinned the vibrancy of that church disappeared, but Moran notes that at that time the Reconstruction’s failure was already clear due to the sweeping of Republicans from power, and that the Ku Klux Klan was on the rise. Other factors, such as the changing nature of the economy, may also have contributed to these demographic shifts.
Now, with the Wade-Lewis Center underway, there’s a renewed focus on this vital chapter of New Paltz’s history, ensuring that the stories of resilience and community continue to be told and celebrated.
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