The Holland Society of New York

08/25/2026

Fall tickets open! With autumn around the corner, join the Holland Society for these fall museum tours in New York City and Boston. Limited space! Book your spot on our website under upcoming events or by using the following link: https://hollandsociety.org/upcoming-events/

* Gardner Museum Book of Esther Private Tour | October 2 (Boston)
* Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace Tour | October 23 (NYC)
* Museum of the City of New York Lenape Legacies and Futures Tour | November 11 (NYC)

08/24/2026

Happy National Waffle Day! Did you know the Pilgrims brought waffles to America in 1620s after discovering them during a brief stop in Holland? The word ‘waffle’ is directly derived from the Dutch ‘wafel’.

Dutch immigrants popularized waffles in New Amsterdam, before it became New York. Thomas Jefferson reportedly started a mini American waffle craze during the 1790’s when he returned from France with a goose-handled waffle iron.
On August 24, 1869, Cornelius Swarthout of Troy, NY, a Dutch-American, received a patent for the first waffle iron in the United States, and the anniversary of the patent marks National Waffle Day.

08/22/2026

On this day, August 22, 1654, Jacob Barsimson arrived in New Amsterdam as the first known Jewish immigrant to America. Jewish leaders in the Dutch Republic sent Barsimson to explore the possibility of a more extensive Jewish immigration to New Amsterdam. After Dutch Brazil fell, they felt Jewish communities in Europe needed to find another alternative. Barsimson set sail from the Netherlands on July 8, 1654, on the ship Pear Tree on August 22. A group of 23 Jews from Recife, Brazil, who arrived at New Amsterdam in September, followed Barsimson, and together they established the first Jewish settlement in what would later be the United States. Despite Governor Peter Stuyvesant’s hostility, Barsimson secured a ruling from New Amsterdam’s Dutch municipal court allowing them to stay.

🖼: Manischewitz matza box cover issued in honor of the Tercentenary depicting the 1654 arrival of the first Jews of New Amsterdam.

08/20/2026

The August edition of the Holland Society’s newsletter has been published and is available on our website https://mailchi.mp/2ec87aa9bf90/august-2026-newsletter Tickets are available for our Annual Dinner Dance and be sure to also read about our upcoming events and other exciting opportunities.

Please check out our website’s news page and learn more about the Holland Society’s events and projects planned for 2026. If you would like to sign up to receive our monthly newsletter visit https://hollandsociety.org/newsletter-archives/

08/18/2026

Next upcoming event! Join us next Wednesday, August 26, for a virtual lecture led by genealogical expert Maria Dering to learn about tracing your family history. With a focus on New Amsterdam, Maria will cover the resources, key elements, and structure needed for a successful genealogical search. Along with covering the basics, Maria will also answer questions and explore topics of interest including the unique challenges of New Amsterdam genealogical research. Go to our website under upcoming events or use the link to register: https://bit.ly/4hG6ySW

08/10/2026

In August 1673, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War, Admiral Jacob Benckes commanded a fleet of ships sent by the Dutch government against the British to hinder their trade and capture their vessels off the coast of the Americas. Benckes cunningly combined forces with fleet commander Cornelis Evertsen de Jonge, and in a joint effort, they attacked New York Harbor, which had fallen to the English in 1664. Following the English surrender and the reclaiming of Dutch rule over the city, Evertsen and Benckes served as Governors of New Netherland pending the formal appointment of Anthony Colve to that post. The city was renamed from New York to New Orange. However, the English took back control in 1674 with the signing of the Treaty of Westminster, which also ended the Third Anglo-Dutch War.

🖼: Admiral Jacob Binkes (Benckes) Artist: Nicholaes Maes Metropolitan Museum of New York Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1911

08/07/2026

In honor of International Beer Day, a toast to the first recorded brewery in the US, built around 1612 in New Amsterdam by Dutch colonists Adrian Block and Hans Christiansen, in a log cabin as part of several structures in the fort on the southern tip of Manhattan.

In 1632, the West India Company erected the first commercial brewery close to the fort on a street later known as “Brouwers” Street (brewers). In the colonies, the first beers were styled after British ales: stouts, bitters, and pale ales. The brewery’s water came from Heere Gracht, a stream flowing from natural springs through Beaver Path. Today, the old Manhattan Brouwers Street is named Stone Street, and it is one of the oldest streets in the city. A pedestrian-only street, it is still a place to raise a pint with its many restaurants and taverns. 🍻

🖼: Tavern Scene, David Teniers the Younger (1658)

08/04/2026

🌊 Stel je voor dat je in de 17e eeuw de Atlantische Oceaan overstak.
🌬Maanden op zee. Stormen. Overvolle schepen. Een onzekere toekomst.
⚓ Toch maakten duizenden Nederlandse migranten de reis, op zoek naar nieuwe kansen.
📜 Onze tentoonstelling verkent wat het betekende om je thuis achter te laten en opnieuw te beginnen.

Tijdens twee weekenden in 2026 worden deze verhalen zichtbaar en beleefbaar in de Grote Kerk. De geschiedenis wordt verteld aan de hand van portretten, brieven, bijzondere gebeurtenissen en familieverhalen — soms verrassend, soms ontroerend, soms ronduit spannend.

Er is een expositie, een film en er zijn activiteiten voor jong en oud.

Reserveer alvast de data: 26 & 27 september en 3 & 4 oktober 2026 Grote Kerk Schermerhorn – Het verhaal van de jongen die de oceaan overstak: Hoe Schermerhorn naam maakte in Amerika

08/03/2026