Downloadable New Amsterdam Trail Brochure

4Pearl &WhitehallStreetsNortheastCorner In Fact:Joris Rapelje andCatalina Tricot, two ofNew Amsterdam’s earliestsettlers, also made theirhome here on Pearl Street.Drawn to promisingopportunities in the NewWorld, they had exchangedsix years of service to theWest India Company fora small land grant. Here,they lived and raised11 children. It is estimatedthat as many as one millionAmericans are descendentsof Joris and Catalina.Stuyvesant&TheSettlersThis corner was oncethe eastern edgeof the New Amsterdamsettlement.ThenBy 1643, people from all over the worldhad moved to the bustling community.A French priest, Isaac Jogues, visitingNew Amsterdam reported that he hadheard as many as 18 languages at a timewhen the population numbered around 500.It was this multi-ethnic, free and diversecity that greeted Peter Stuyvesant as hearrived in 1647 to take his post as the newdirector of the settlement.A former military man, Stuyvesantbrooked no opposition and imposeda strict rule of law. He prohibited the saleof liquor to the Indians and levied a taxon alcoholic beverages and furs. He alsotried to limit religious tolerance in thecolony, but encountered fierce opposition.Under Stuyvesant’s governance thecolony grew steadily. 18th century descendentsof Joris and Catalina.New York Public Library Peter Stuyvesant, attributedto Hendrick Couturier, ca. 1660.New-York Historical Society In 1658, Peter Stuyvesant builthis home close to the water.Whitehall Street would derive itsname from his white brick house.New York Public Library