Dutch heritage in Hudson Valley/Upstate New York (Buffalo, Rochester: house, buying)

[oihamad]

I am a Graduate Student in History in North Carolina. Knowing that the Dutch in the 17th Century were the first Europeans to colonize/establish a major foothold in what became the Colony and later State of New York, I am curious if there are any areas of Upstate New York or the Hudson River Valley where Dutch Culture, the Dutch Language, and the Dutch Reformed Church maintained a significant influence or continue to be present? I posted a similar thread in the Massachusetts forum concerning New England Yankee Culture as I am interested generally in the continuity of regional/historical cultures in the USA and worldwide (where I live in Raleigh, North Carolina Southern Culture is slowly but surely diminishing). Any responses would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Omar

[ckhthankgod]

I’d say in terms of the name of places and surnames of some of the people. For instance, Watervliet, Rensselaer, Schuylerville, Cohoes, Fonda, Amsterdam or any place with “kill” at the end of it are of Dutch origin or influence. You also have some people with surnames with “Van” in the beginning of it, which tends to indicate that it is of Dutch origins. Last names such as Beekman/Bakeman, Schuyler and Cuyler are a few other of Dutch origins that I’ve seen before.

There are Dutch Reformed Churches that exist in the state as well.

You’ll find most of this in the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys, as well as NYC.

[Wells5]

"Coleslaw" and "cookies" are Dutch names. Krautsalat is the German word for coleslaw and the English word for cookie is biscuit. Any river or creek with the suffix "kill" is of Dutch origin like Arthur kill, Fishkill, Bushkill, etc.


New Netherland extended up to Albany, which the Dutch called "Fort Orange." What today is Kingston was a Dutch settlement named Wiltwyck. A Dutch Patroon was like a baron. Patroons owned vast tracts of land along the Hudson River and his tenants were basically land slaves or serfs. TCM occasionally shows the movie Dragonwyck, which stars Vincent Price who plays a Dutch Patroon in 17th century New Netherland.


Other than a few names of things, the Dutch influence is very minor.

[HowardRoarke]

People of Dutch descent and some Dutch citizens ended up being some of the first land speculators after the Iroquois were crushed, and the Revolution was over with. Both Mass and New York claimed Upstate, plus the boundary between NY and PA had to be hashed out. Once the court cases and surveying were done, the land containing what became the Phelps&Gorham purchase, and later the Holland Land Company, was parceled off. Phelps and Gorham defaulted, and the Holland company (actually from Holland) ended up buying the land which is now known as Western New York.

Phelps&Gorham were from New England, or one may have been from NYC (memory is fuzzy), and their lands were in the Finger Lakes and around Rochester.

There's some Dutch influence left in Rochester, but much more so in Buffalo, and it's apparent with street and even some building names in Buffalo. Rochester was originally settled by people from Maryland, who bought land from Phelps&Gorham.

[Q44]

I live in Columbia County NY. The town of Kinderhook has a long Dutch history. We have the home (Lindenwald), grave, and a statue of Martin Van Buren all near or in the village square. There's the Lukyas Van Allen historic site. There are still many businesses in the town that carry the name Van Allen. Actually there a quite a few other businesses, farms and roads with Dutch names. Dutch surnames are still very common in the town/school. The school district - Kinderhook Central Schools are also known as Ichabod Crane Schools and the middle school uses names from the story for their hallways, so there's a Van Tassel wing, etc. There's also a town historical society and museum that has a lot of info on the Dutch era.

[npaladin2000]

There's some architechtural influence, the older structures have a distinctly Dutch look. And of course many of the original settlers were Dutch and the bloodlines still flow through the region. But the largest influence remaining is probably place names. Particularly in Dutchess County and Orange (as in House Of Orange) county.

I remember taking a trip to Indoneisa one time, formerly known as the Dutch East Indies. Also a former Dutch colony way back. And in some areas, it may be way beneath the surface, but you can feel a familiarity deep down between there and the Hudson Valley in places. Long in the past, and long diluted, and difficult to actually express, but it's there.

[hvexpatinct]

The Dutch Reformed Church maintains an active presence in the Hudson Valley.

The Sinterklaas festivities in Rhinebeck/Kingston originate in Dutch culture.

The Stockade district in Kingston includes some early Dutch homes and the Old Dutch Church.

Homes, churches, and inns built by Dutch settlers are still sprinkled throughout Dutchess, Ulster, and Columbia counties... Rhinebeck, Kingston, High Falls, Stone Ridge...

[987ABC]

Originally Posted by npaladin2000

There's some architechtural influence, the older structures have a distinctly Dutch look. And of course many of the original settlers were Dutch and the bloodlines still flow through the region. But the largest influence remaining is probably place names. Particularly in Dutchess County and Orange (as in House Of Orange) county.

I remember taking a trip to Indoneisa one time, formerly known as the Dutch East Indies. Also a former Dutch colony way back. And in some areas, it may be way beneath the surface, but you can feel a familiarity deep down between there and the Hudson Valley in places. Long in the past, and long diluted, and difficult to actually express, but it's there.

Dutchess County was named after the Duchess of York (the spelling of Duchess varied) in England. Duchess is a title given to the wife of a Duke. Its not derived from the Dutch. Even if the word originally has Dutch origins (I have no idea if it does or doesn't), the County was named after the title given the Duke's wife. If the title was a Chinese word than that would have been what the county would have been named after.

Zee is a Dutch word for sea or ocean. The Hudson River where the Tappan Zee Bridge spans is 3 miles wide and tidal and brackish. So it appears to be more of a "sea" and not a river. The Dutch called this the Tappan Zee, meaning the Tappan Sea. Tappan being the name of an Indian tribe that lived in that area.

I always thought "neck" was a Dutch word for peninsula (as in Throggs Neck or Little Neck), but I have not been able to confirm this.

[987ABC]

Another lasting legacy of the Dutch is that they referred to the Hudson (at least the tidal southern part) to be the North River, and they called the Delaware River the South River. We have long ago dropped North River as a name for the Hudson, but its legacy still exists in the many things that bear "north river" in their name. I think that "north river" lasted longer in a navigational context. The Mohawk and the Hudson meet to form a much larger waterway called .... the Hudson (somewhere near Albany and Troy). It probably made more sense (and still does today I guess) to have the merged waterway bear a different name, because its characteristics are different south of the merge.

[ABQConvict]

The Dutch culture is very close to the English, so Dutch settlers and their descendants assimilated within a generation or two.

But not before adding several important everyday words:

cookie

stoop

boss

booze

bumpkin

cruise

dapper

gruff

kink

...and many, many more.

Also, architectural styles and the ubiquitous Dutch place names that pepper the state. Of course there are many Dutch family names continued through the descent of the Dutch settlers, throughout the state, as well.

And as mentioned above, the Dutch Reformed Church (now often referred to simple as the Reformed Church) is still a common sight in many parts of New York.