In 1624 Africans enslaved by the Dutch West India Company constructed a fort and a town on the southern tip of Manhattan Island.
Two years later, the remote outpost became the capital of the Dutch North American colony of New Netherland. The settlement grew, and within a decade, its frontier pushed eastward onto what the Dutch called ‘t Lange Eylandt into present-day Brooklyn and Queens.
By the 1660s, Kings County was home to a number of rural Dutch farming communities, while Queens County was settled by groups of English dissenters. In this New Netherland hinterland, Dutch, English, and Huguenot craft traditions converged resulting in a hybridized regional style. Surviving examples of early Long Island architecture and decorative arts provide evidence of the various cultural influences that operated on Long Island.
“Although New Netherland was short lived, the Dutch left an imprint on the Long Island’s material culture and domestic architecture that endured well beyond English conquest in 1664,” says Lauren Brincat, Chief Curator and Director of Collections at Preservation Long Island.
“As migrants of Dutch descent moved eastward into Long Island’s English settlements, they brought with them Dutch-influenced furnishings and designs that many Long Islanders incorporated into their homes, contributing to an eclectic material and architectural landscape that persisted into the next century and beyond.”
To commemorate of the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Dutch colony that would become New York, Preservation Long Island’s Chief Curator and Director of Collections, Lauren Brincat, will discuss the enduring influence of Dutch colonization on Long Island’s material culture and architectural landscape at a free virtual talk on Thursday, December 12, 2024, from 5:30 until 6:30 pm ET.
There is a $10 optional donation. All proceeds support Preservation Long Island’s public programs.
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