On the banks of the Wallkill River in the quaint upstate village of New Paltz, NY is where the one of the first groups of white settlers found a home in what is now called Historic Huguenot Street. After negotiating with the Esopus Indians, this small group of French Huguenots settled on a flat rise on the banks of the Wallkill River in 1678. The settlers named the site in honor of Die Pfalz, the region of present-day Germany that had provided them temporary refuge before they came to America