America's Oldest Street

By Kim Knox Beckius, About.com Guide

With its six stone homes built before 1720, Huguenot Street in New Paltz, New York, has the distinction of being America's oldest street. Visitors are welcome to walk through history along this Colonial road, where a group of French Protestants known as the Huguenots settled in 1677 after fleeing France to escape religious and political persecution.

On this photo tour, I'll show you some of the Huguenot homes that have endured through centuries. The photo above shows the Jean Hasbrouck House, built in 1712. It is now home to the Huguenot Historical Society, which maintains the historic Huguenot Street homes and offers tours daily except Tuesdays and Wednesdays June through October and weekends from mid- to late May.

While there is a fee for a guided, one to one-and-a-half-hour tour ($15 for adults; $14 for seniors, students and AAA members; and $10 for children ages 7-13 as of 2012) that includes interiors, visitors may stroll along Huguenot Street free year-round.

Previous

• Walk Through History on Huguenot Street in New Paltz, New York
• A New Start
• An Architectural Leap Forward
• Still Standing
• An Old Stone Well
• Find Your Way to Huguenot Street

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