Built 1720 by Hugo Freer,
one of twelve original
Patentees of New Paltz.
The Low House after 1732.
Hugo Freer - The Patentee
Hugo Freer is a partial
enigma as of the original Patentees the least is known
about him. Family tradition has it that he came from
Normandy escaping into the German Palatine hidden
in a barrel to avoid his persecutors. Exactly who
it was that was chasing him, or why, is lost to us.
Whether Hugo had converted to Calvinism while in France
or converted after arriving in the Palatine is not
clear. But it is assumed his conversion happened in
France and that is the cause of his need to flee.
There is speculation
that he was the son of a Catholic family. As a result
of his conversion to Calvinism he changed his name to
"Frere," French for brother, (frére). This spelling
of his name is actually supported by contemporary documentation.
Family traditions say he adopted this name to indicate
his association with the Huguenots declaring himself
as a "Huguenot Brother" to the world.
is definitely known of Hugo Freer is that he arrived
in the Wiltwyck area (now known as Kingston)
in 1675. In Wiltwyck and Nieu Dorpf he met the other
Huguenots and became associated with the group that
became the original Patentees of New Paltz.
In 1692 the Freers began
the building of their stone home, finished in 1694.
Like most of the other structures built at this time
it was configured as three rooms stacked one atop
the other. There was a cellar, a ground floor room
and a loft. The fireplace was located in the main
ground floor room and originally would have been jamb-less,
the style of building at the time.
Unfortunately Hugo's wife
Jannetje died in 1693 before the house was completed,
so never occupied it. Hugo himself died in 1698 just
four years after completion of the original section
of the house. Both Hugo and Jannetje are buried in
the little cemetery of the old Walloon Church on Huguenot
1720 the house had passed into the Low family through
marriage to Rebecca, granddaughter of Hugo the Patentee.
In 1735 the house went through a second building phase
having a new room added on the south end. This addition
doubled the size of the house. The new room mirrored
the original structure with a fireplace directly opposite
the original in the middle of the south wall. The
original door was converted to a window and the new
door for the front of the house was added to the center
hall created at the time of the addition. Above the
ground floor the loft was extended as a continuous
space the full length of the house and a "mow" door
was installed on the south gable end.
generations of the Low family put on a second addition
in the form of a "frame shed" running the length of
the back, or east, facade of the house. This "newest"
addition to the house was undertaken at the time of
the American Revolution. With this addition the house
took the form that we see today. Most probably the
shed addition acted as a workshop attached to the
The Freer-Low House has
something unique among the original houses of New
Paltz. On it's south facade is the only remaining
"mow" door. When you look at the house from the south,
on the level of the loft, or attic, there is a door
leading directly into the loft space. In the houses
of New Paltz the loft was primarily used for storage
of goods and supplies. The Freer-Low House is the
only one with it's door remaining intact. In addition
to the door there would also, most likely, have been
a device extending from the door to act as a hoist.
During the 19th century
the original small windows of the house were replace
by the windows that are currently visible. In the process,
the openings were expanded substantially. The Freer-Low
House is one of the best of the New Paltz houses to
display this transformation. To enlarge the windows
meant the knocking out of large sections of the original
stone structure. Rather than replace the stone to the
new sized openings, it was simpler to fill in with brick.
The house continued
in the Low family into the early 20th century when
it was sold out of the family. From that point it's
history became that of a tenement and low class housing.
In 1943 the house was purchased by a Reverend Follette,
a descendant of Hugo Freer the Patentee. During his
ownership he undertook major renovations of the interiors
transforming the house into a Colonial Revival inside.
At the same time he modernized the amenities by installing
central heat, plumbing and electricity to make the
house more comfortable for himself and his family.
The result of this series of renovations was the near
complete transformation of the original 17th & 18th
century interiors. All that is still visible from
the original interiors are the beams and floor in
the original ground floor room. Rev. Follette occupied
the house until 1955 when The Huguenot Historical
Society purchased it with the help of the Freer-Low
Huguenot Historical Society determined to leave the
Freer-Low house in this condition for very legitimate
reasons. First among the considerations was the financial
resources necessary to strip out and put back. The
second and more important consideration was that leaving
the house as a Colonial Revival interior acts as a
splendid counterpoint to our perceptions of colonial
life in America. The Freer-Low House interiors act
as an example of our present day perceptions of what
we think a colonial home "should" look like. The home
was restored to meet 20th century conceptions of an
English urban setting complete with an English fireplace
and raised wood paneling in the main room.
Visitors are shown the
main downstairs room of the original structure as
well as the parlor on the second addition. The shed
where Reverend Follette created the kitchen and a
study are also parts of the tour.
As the tour of Huguenot
Street is laid out, the Freer-Low House is the first
that visitors experience. In it's current interior
design it acts as a perfect tool to explain the layers
of cultural interpretations that have been heaped
upon our conceptions of colonial life. Because it
has been restored as an "colonial" interior it also
acts as a perfect way to explain that the English
experience in the New World is but one of several
traditions, that tradition coming late to the Hudson
Valley well after other influences had become firmly
rooted. In comparison to the English, the Dutch control
of their colony in America was short, yet by the time
it was over Dutch culture and traditions were so pervasive
as to control the continuing development of the colony.