NEW PALTZ

town (township), Ulster county, southeastern New York, U.S., on the Wallkill River, just northwest of Poughkeepsie; it includes the village of New Paltz. The site was settled by French Huguenots in 1677 who named it for an earlier European refuge, the Rhenish Palatinate (German Pfalz). Six stone houses (16921712), part of the original settlement, are maintained by the Huguenot Historical Society. The evangelist and reformer Sojourner Truth (c. 17971883) was born and lived in West Park, which then was part of the town and now is part of Esopus town. The village (incorporated 1887) lies in a fertile agricultural area producing wine and fruit. The State University of New York College at New Paltz originated in 1828 as a school for teaching classics. Area 34 square miles (88 square km). Pop. (1990) 11,388; (1998 est.) 11,261.