Cultural Heritage Week runs through Oct. 30
The sixth annual event will include exhibits on display at the Mathewis Persen House in Uptown Kingston.
Ulster County’s sixth annual Cultural Heritage Week starts Friday and will include a number of new exhibits on display at the Mathewis Persen House in Uptown Kingston.
County Clerk Nina Postupack said at a kickoff event Wednesday that the 25 participating groups will highlight the rich history of the county.
“Cultural Heritage Week is a way of [showing] off our history, here in Ulster County, throughout all the different historical organizations, cultural groups and really doing a collaborative effort to say to tourists, to the people of the county, this is what our history is about and this is how rich we are in the history of Ulster County,” sad Postupack said.
Among the news exhibits at the Persen House will be “Women of Note,” in honor of the centennial of women’s suffrage, and one about Mathewis Persen, the first inhabitant of the house. Included will be all of Persen’s records in Dutch, the native tongue of the first settlers in the Kingston.
The Persen House is at 74 John St., at the corner of Crown Street.
County Executive Michael Hein said the presence of the state’s first capital, Kingston, within Ulster County not only provides insight to tourists regarding the formative years of the nation but also has made the county a leader in tourist activity, surpassing neighboring Dutchess County in tourism economic impact.
“It’s not only an incredible place that we have, and an incredible history that helped shape our country, but it’s also a huge part of our economy, a $532 million tourism economy, and big portions of that are historic tourism that comes to our community all across Ulster County,” Hein said.
Cultural Heritage Week runs through Oct. 30. Information about exhibits and events across the county is available online at ulstercountyalive.com.