TULPEHOCKEN 300th ANNIVERSARY TRIP - Chapter Five - July 28, 2023

THE HUDSON VALLEY

View from the East Bank of the Hudson River at Clermont State Historic Site near Germantown NY

Friday, July 28

Katsbaan Reformed Church, 1800 Old Kings Highway, Saugerties NY

Katsbaan Reformed Church 

We scurried around Friday morning in order to get dressed, have breakfast, check out of the motel and find our seats on the bus before our 9:00 am departure time. Everything went smoothly and we were right on schedule for our hour-long journey to the Katsbaan Reformed Church. The rain was long gone and the day was sunny and breezy. We savored our last glimpses of the Schoharie Valley and made our way on Highway 145 to the earlier home of our Palatine ancestors on the banks of the Hudson River. 

Location of the Palatine Village of Gerlach Dorf on Route 30 just South of the Route 30A Intersection

 

We arrived at Katsbaan Reformed Church and had a few minutes to explore the historic house of worship near the Catskill Mountains before our speakers gave their addresses. The congregation was established in 1710 by indentured Palatines living in the West Camp on the Hudson. Surviving records show that my ancestor, Gottfried Fidler, and his wife lived in the West Camp in 1710 and were likely members of this church or the St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church less than three miles away. Katsbaan was built in 1732 – the same year George Washington was born! Church services conducted by ordained ministers have been held continuously since construction of the building was completed. 

Welcome Sign at Katsbaan Reformed Church 

Historic Marker for Katsbaan Church 

Names of Church Builders in the Back Wall of the Church 

Two ministers, one Lutheran and one Reformed, spoke to us while we enjoyed the well-preserved interior of the church furnished in vintage style. Pastor Sonya Tillberg Maclary focused on the differences in the various Protestant religious sects that settled in New York, while Rev. Deborah Zuill talked about the challenges our Palatine ancestors faced in the New World. 

Rev. Deborah Zuill in Katsbaan Reformed Church 

List of Katsbaan Pastors Beginning in 1710

We adjourned for lunch and made our way across the highway to the social hall associated with the church. We were treated to a wonderful potluck buffet provided by members of the Katsbaan congregation. As usual, I sat in the company of my sister LaRita, my cousin John, and different other members of our group. Consequently, I became acquainted with several lovely fellow travelers during our three days together. Today, during conversation with Jeremy Lutz, we discovered that we were both descendants of Palatine immigrants Gottfried and Anna Elizabeth Solomon Fiddler.  What a coincidence that we should discover that we are cousins while sitting near the same place the Fidlers lived more than three hundred years ago!  of course, we recorded our new-found connection with a “Kodak Moment.”

Our New-Found Cousin, Jeremy

Crossing the Hudson River near Clermont Historic Site

Clermont Mansion, 1 Clermont Avenue, Germantown NY

Clermont Mansion on Livington Manor 

After lunch, we boarded our bus to cross the Hudson River to visit Clermont Mansion. The home is on the estate of the Livingston family, where Robert Livingston lived while he supervised and supplied the indentured Palatine immigrants with food, clothing, and tools from 1710 to 1712. Robert's patent to Livingston Manor from England initially covered 160,000 acres. The original mansion was burned by the British in 1777 but was eventually rebuilt and is now decorated in circa 1920 Colonial Revival style. It was the home of several generations of the Livingston family, including Chancellor Robert R. Livingston who helped draft the Declaration of Independence and the New York Constitution, served as the first Secretary for Foreign Affairs, was the lead negotiator of the Louisiana Purchase, and was a co-inventor of the first commercially viable steamboat with Robert Fulton. He also had the honor of giving the presidential oath of office to George Washington in 1789.

In this area, the Hudson River is a broad, placid waterway bordered by heavily wooded banks on either side. The Catskill Mountains provide a towering backdrop to the river beyond the west bank. Clermont is perched on the east bank and offers a magnificent view of the river, forest, and peaks in the distance from the double doors in the front all the way through the house to similar doors to the back terrace.

View of the Hudson River from the Double Doors in Clermont Mansion

I joined the first group that left the visitor’s center to tour the mansion and marveled at the sumptuous furnishings and artwork in every room. The landscaping on the remaining five hundred acres of the estate that was sold bit by bit over time was equally lovely. After the tour, I watched a short video about the history of the estate and the succession of Livingston family members who lived in the mansion. Part of the visitor’s center still retains its original contours from use as a carriage barn. It contains horse stalls in the stable section that are almost as pretty as the interior of the mansion! 

Clermont Mansion

Clermont Mansion

Horse Stalls in the Clermont Carriage House/Visitor's Center

It was late afternoon when we took our seats for the last leg of our journey back to Conrad Weiser Middle School. We grabbed bottles of water and snacks from the shared snack stash in the bus one last time because we were not stopping for dinner on the way home. We crossed over the Hudson River one more time and began the long trek back to Conrad Weiser Middle School. 

Friday's Destinations

I spent lots of time conversing with my distant cousin, John, during the New York trip and I used our last big chunk of time together on the bus to pepper him with questions about his life and his seemingly endless knowledge of families in the Tulpehocken Valley area. The time passed all too quickly, and we were soon back in Womelsdorf picking up our rental car at John’s house and saying a temporary goodbye to him. I drove to Reading where LaRita and I checked into the Homewood Suites for the rest of our stay in Berks County. 

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