Kenneth Shefsiek's Books

Set in Stone

Creating and Commemorating a Hudson Valley Culture

By: Kenneth Shefsiek

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Set in Stone

Creating and Commemorating a Hudson Valley Culture

By: Kenneth Shefsiek

Winner of the 2017 Hendricks Award presented by the New Netherland Institute In 1678, seven French-speaking Protestant families established the village of New Paltz in the Hudson River Valley of New York. Life on the edge of European settlement presented many challenges, but a particular challenge for these ethnic Walloon families, originally from the southern Spanish Netherlands, was that they lived in a Dutch cultural region in an English colony. In Set in Stone, Kenneth Shefsiek explores how the founders and their descendants reacted to and perpetuated this multiethnic cultural environment for generations. As the founding families controlled their town economically and politically, they creatively and selectively blended the cultures available to them. They allowed their Walloon culture to slip away early in the village's history, but they continued to combine Dutch and English cultures for more than 150 years. When they finally abandoned the last vestiges of Dutch culture in the early nineteenth century, they did so just as descendants of English colonists began to claim that the national commitment to liberty and freedom was grounded in the nation's English heritage. Not willing to be marginalized, descendants of the New Paltz Walloons constructed an alternative national narrative, placing their ancestors at the very center of the American story.

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Page Count

316

Publisher

State University of New York Press

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ISBN 10

1438464371

ISBN 13

9781438464374

Set in Stone

Creating and Commemorating a Hudson Valley Culture

By: Kenneth Shefsiek

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Set in Stone

Creating and Commemorating a Hudson Valley Culture

By: Kenneth Shefsiek

Challenges the belief that the Walloons and the Dutch of the Hudson Valley were cultural preservationists who resisted English culture. In 1678, seven French-speaking Protestant families established the village of New Paltz in the Hudson River Valley of New York. Life on the edge of European settlement presented many challenges, but a particular challenge for these ethnic Walloon families, originally from the southern Spanish Netherlands, was that they lived in a Dutch cultural region in an English colony. In Set in Stone, Kenneth Shefsiek explores how the founders and their descendants reacted to and perpetuated this multiethnic cultural environment for generations. As the founding families controlled their town economically and politically, they creatively and selectively blended the cultures available to them. They allowed their Walloon culture to slip away early in the villages history, but they continued to combine Dutch and English cultures for more than 150 years. When they finally abandoned the last vestiges of Dutch culture in the early nineteenth century, they did so just as descendants of English colonists began to claim that the national commitment to liberty and freedom was grounded in the nations English heritage. Not willing to be marginalized, descendants of the New Paltz Walloons constructed an alternative national narrative, placing their ancestors at the very center of the American story. Kenneth Shefsiek demonstrates that he has a keen eye for detail, and this careful attention to the small things helps bring New Paltzs past to life. The book paints a surprising picture of one of the most intriguing communities in early America. Andrew Lipman, author of The Saltwater Frontier: Indians and the Contest for the American Coast

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316

Publisher

SUNY Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1438464355

ISBN 13

9781438464350

Deep Water

Murder, Scandal, and Intrigue in a New England Town

By: Kenneth M. Sheldon

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Deep Water

Murder, Scandal, and Intrigue in a New England Town

By: Kenneth M. Sheldon

In the waning days of World War I, William K. Dean was brutally murdered, his body hog-tied and dumped in a rainwater cistern on his farm in the quiet town of Jaffrey, New Hampshire. Suspicion quickly fell on Dean's wife, an invalid in the early stages of dementia. Her friends, outraged at the accusations, pointed instead to a former tenant of Dean’s, whom many suspected of being a German spy. Others believed that Dean's best friend, a politically powerful banker and judge, was involved. Deep Water is based on extensive research into the Dean murder, including thousands of pages of FBI documents, Grand Jury testimonies, newspaper accounts, private correspondence, and the archives of the Jaffrey Historical Society.

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Page Count

393

Publisher

Down East Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1684750288

ISBN 13

9781684750283

Book's by Kenneth Shefsiek

Set in Stone

Set in Stone

Set in Stone

Set in Stone

Deep Water

Deep Water

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