The Epic of New York City (8 page)

After many adventures Kuyter and Melyn made their way to Holland, to the capital at The Hague, and there they appealed to the Dutch government despite Stuyvesant's threats. The States General usually showed more concern for the welfare of Dutch colonists than did the Dutch West India Company. The Dutch government suspended sentence on Kuyter and Melyn and granted them the right to return to New Netherland under safe-conduct passes. Kuyter tarried in Holland, probably to manage the case should Stuyvesant press it, while Melyn sailed again for New Amsterdam, where he was welcomed as a hero. All this was a blow to Peter Stuyvesant.

His reforms and other changes resulted in many
firsts
in the city's history, including the following:

In 1648 the first pier was built on the East River.

In 1652 the first Latin school was established, and the first law against fast driving was passed.

In 1653 the first prison was built inside the fort; the first poorhouse was erected at 21-23 Beaver Street; the City Tavern became the first City Hall; a night watch was created; and the first price-fixing occurred.

In 1654 the canal on Broad Street was rebuilt.

In 1655 the first lottery was held.

In 1656 the first city survey showed 120 houses and 1,000 inhabitants; the first broker went into business; and the first market was established at Whitehall and Pearl streets.

In 1657 Jacques Cortelyou became the first commuter by traveling daily between his Long Island home and Manhattan.

In 1658 the first coroner's inquest was held.

In 1659 the first hospital was erected on Bridge Street.

In 1660 the first post office was opened, and the first city directory was published.

In 1661 the first unemployment relief went into effect, and the first law against loan sharks was passed.

In 1663 the city experienced its first recorded earthquake.

Laws were hard to enforce and taxes difficult to collect because many colonists had become lawless. It was obvious to the people that the company preferred its profits to their prosperity. Racially, culturally, and religiously, the inhabitants of New Netherland were a mixed breed, taking pleasure where they found it, unlike the homogeneous and Puritanical New Englanders. Although Dutchmen were
most numerous and Dutch influences generally prevailed, the influx of Englishmen, Frenchmen, and other nationals brought several cultures into jostling and creative juxtaposition.

Most people realized that Peter Stuyvesant was doing his energetic best to maintain order and develop the province, but they resented his high-handed methods and denial of democracy. In their minds suspicion grew like a cancer, They had a right to be suspicious, for without the knowledge of Stuyvesant his secretary was pocketing part of the tax revenues. Besides, the people asked themselves, why should they pay a tariff in New Netherland when no tariff was imposed in New England? What was wrong with smuggling goods back and forth among the colonies? So even though Stuyvesant used two Dutch men-of-war as revenue cutters, he still was unable to stamp out all illicit trade. At last the public learned of the graft taken by Stuyvesant's secretary; he committed suicide rather than stand trial.

Peg Leg Peter, who liked his glass of schnapps now and then, agonized over the general drunkenness and constant knife fighting in the streets. Beer was the preferred drink, but other favorites included brandy, gin, and rum. In summertime wine was cooled with ice, while in winter it was served mulled—heated, sweetened, and spiced. There were too many taverns for so small a town. These places were packed with roistering men, who drank heavily, enjoyed companionship, played chess, shot dice, stroked billiard cues, dealt cards, and doted on games of chance.

A favorite outdoor sport was called pulling the goose or riding the goose. A bird's head was greased, the fowl was hung by its feet from a rope stretched over a road, and then the contestants rode underneath at a gallop and tried to grab it. Stuyvesant forbade servants to ride the goose, but this only increased the game's popularity. The goose continued to hang high.

The Dutch introduced bowling into America. They rolled balls at nine pins set up on the lawn of Bowling Green. Autumn brought turkey shooting, and in Stuyvesant's time partridges were brought down from the air over the fort itself. In winter everyone skated and went sleighing. When the weather was warm, pantalooned Dutch youths rowed apple-cheeked maidens to picnic on Oyster Island, known today as Ellis Island.

Then too, the Dutch colonists were more addicted to holidays and festivals than the thin-lipped Puritans of New England were. On New
Year's Day courtesy calls were made from home to home, Dutch girls in manifold petticoats and other finery awaiting the arrival of eligible young men. Twelfth Night, which fell a few days after New Year's, was always gay. Housewives baked Twelfth Night cakes with a gilded bean hidden inside, and the lucky person who found the bean became King of Misrule for the evening. Children jumped over lighted candles. Singing, bedecked in costumes, all would be led about the room by three men disguised as the Three Wise Men, while a fourth carried a light suggesting the star of Bethlehem.

On St. Valentine's Day, which the Dutch called
Vrouwen-dagh,
maidens frolicked about the streets, striking young men with knotted cords. At Easter time the children painted Easter eggs. The seventh Sunday after Easter was called Whitsuntide, or White Sunday. Houses were decorated festively, games were played, and servants were allowed to act up a bit. On May Day houses bloomed with garlands of flowers, and people danced on the green around a Maypole. Ardent swains pulled blushing girls onto “kissing bridges,” while thoughtless young men placed scarecrows on the roofs of houses inhabited by unmarried girls.

Like the Pilgrims, the Dutch set aside a certain day for Thanksgiving, but it did not fall on the same date each year and was not celebrated annually. For example, on August 12, 1654, Stuyvesant ordered a Thanksgiving because peace had been reached between Holland and England. Men and women danced around a huge bonfire and guzzled free beer provided by the city fathers. The beer bill that day came to fifty-eight guilders, or enough for everyone to get tipsy.

November 10 marked St. Martin's Eve, and that night and the following day the Dutch staged parties all over town. Dinner always featured roast goose. After the flesh had been devoured, the fowl's breastbone was examined. If it was hard, this foretold a severe winter; if soft, a mild one.

St. Nicholas' Eve was celebrated on December 5. This minor saint from the fourth century
A.D.
was the secular deity of the Dutch. Supposedly he came down the chimney on the eve of his birthday, which fell on December 6. Excited children piled up hay for his horses. The walls were hung with three oranges symbolizing the three gold dowries St. Nicholas had allegedly given to three poor but deserving sisters. It was said, too, that the saint had once saved a sailor from drowning, so salt-soaked rough-weather gear dangled in the room.
Another display consisted of birch rods meant for boys and girls who had been naughty. Christmas itself was observed quietly.

When times were good, the Dutch feasted on venison, turkey, partridge, quail, tripe, fish, oysters, mussels, crabs, corn mush and milk, headcheese, sausage, bologna, peas, cole slaw, waffles, and oily cakes something like our modern doughnut. They drank from small teacups, nibbling a lump of sugar after each sip.

This high living ended temporarily in 1650-51, when a harsh winter sent food prices soaring. The cruel cold inflicted much suffering on the colonists. Householders kept logs blazing in fireplaces lined with picture tiles, but in other rooms ink froze in pens. Most afflicted were the slaves called humble men, who carried buckets of filth from backyard privies and dumped them into the rivers. Despite the scarcity of food and rising prices, Stuyvesant provisioned company ships bound for Curaçao. This aroused the indignation of the Nine Men, who accused the governor of “wanton imprudence.”

Streets were few, crooked, muddy, and overrun with livestock and fowl. During all the time the Dutch occupied New Amsterdam, the city never extended farther north than Wall Street, 550 yards from the tip of lower Manhattan. Men drove wagons so fast that Stuyvesant ordered them to walk beside their vehicles and hold the horses' reins. The first street to be paved was Brouwer, or Brewer, Street, named for its many breweries. Today it is known as Stone Street. It runs in a northeasterly direction from Whitehall Street to Hanover Square. In 1657 the first half, from Whitehall Street to Broad Street, was laid with cobblestones. These formed more sidewalk than pavement, for an open gutter was left in the center of the street. Benjamin Franklin, a resident of more sophisticated Philadelphia, later said that he could identify a New Yorker by his awkward gait when he walked on Philadelphia's smooth paving—“like a parrot upon a mahogany table.”

Pearl Street, the oldest street in town, was lined with dwellings. Battery Place, bounding Battery Park on the north, was a much wider street than it is today and took the name of Marcktveldt because of cattle fairs held there. Outside town, four blocks north of Wall Street, Maagde Paatje, or Maidens' Path, began at Broadway and twisted to the southeast along the curve of a stream. Dutch girls who couldn't afford to send their clothes to a laundry washed their linen in the stream. Today the path is called Maiden Lane.

The Dutch never built log cabins, which were introduced into America by the Swedes in the Delaware Valley. The first houses erected in New Amsterdam were one-story wood structures containing two rooms. In Stuyvesant's time some houses were made of brick and stone. In 1628 kilns had been established here. They produced small yellow and black bricks, called Holland bricks to distinguish them from the larger English variety. The northern part of Manhattan provided an abundance of stone. Slowly the colonists began putting up two-story houses, whose second floors overhung the first floors.

A distinctive feature of Dutch architecture—one that lasted well into the brownstone era—was the high stoop at the front of the house. In Holland the first floors were raised high above the street, for in that
nether
land a hole in a dike could flood the land around a man's house. In America the Dutch built a steep flight of steps to the front doors. In warm weather the stoop served as the family gathering place, pipe-smoking men keeping their eyes on their neighbors' weathercocks, mothers shelling peas, and children shouting across the narrow streets.

Most front doors were ornamented with huge brass knockers shaped like a dog's or lion's head, and these had to be polished every day. Doors were large, and windows were small. Window glass was imported from Holland. Doors had an upper and a lower half. The lower half was usually kept shut so that a housewife could lean on it to gossip with a neighbor, yet keep pigs and hens out of her kitchen.

The houses had comfortable, if narrow, interiors, the low ceilings pierced by exposed wooden beams, alcoves, and window seats set into the whitewashed walls. Bare floors were scrubbed rigorously and then sprinkled with fine sand, which was broom-stroked into fantastic patterns. Furniture was plain and heavy and was made mostly of oak, maple, or nutwood. The Dutch lacked sofas, couches, or lounges. Their best chairs were made of Russian leather studded with brass nails.

Dutch matrons prided themselves on their recessed
slaap-bancks,
huge Holland beds, and massive sideboards and cupboards. Pewter mugs and copper vessels were set around racks holding a generous supply of long-stemmed pipes. China was rare. Most spoons and forks were carved from wood, although the well-to-do had silverware used only for parties. Glassware was almost completely unknown, punch being drunk in turns by guests from a huge bowl, and beer
from a tankard of silver. The rich possessed mirrors; one wealthy man owned seventy. Pictures were plentiful but wretched—mostly engravings of Dutch cities and naval engagements. Window curtains were made of flowered chintz.

Clocks were scarce, time being kept mainly by sundials and hourglasses. Hardworking men arose with the first crow of the cock, breakfasted at dawn, labored through the morning, dined heartily at noon, resumed work, and then quit early in the afternoon to play. Every house contained spinning wheels, and looms became common. Behind most houses flower gardens were laid out in symmetrical designs, together with a vegetable garden and an orchard. Weather permitting, the Dutch liked to eat outdoors in summerhouses.

Houses cost from $200 to $1,000 and rented for $14 a year. From 1658 through 1661 living costs and wages were as follows: Beer sold at $4 a barrel, a sailor earned $8 a month, a horse was worth $112, the city bell ringer was paid $20 a year, the first Latin teacher earned $100 annually, lots near Hanover Square sold for $50 each, an ox brought $48, herrings sold at $3.60 per keg, and one beaverskin was worth $2.40.

A seafaring people, the Dutch enjoyed the water. Along Pearl Street small shipyards produced 1-masted sloops and 2-masted ketches. A 28-foot canoe cost $11, while a North River sloop or yacht was worth $560 or more.

Yacht, by the way, is a Dutch word. So are sloop, skipper, cookie, and cruller. A Dutch dozen or baker's dozen, meaning thirteen cookies or cakes, originated at a Dutch bakery in Albany, the term spreading to New Amsterdam. To the English a Dutch bargain meant a one-sided deal. Dutch comfort meant that conditions could be worse. Dutch courage signified booze bravery. To talk like a Dutch uncle meant to speak the truth gently but plainly.