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Reunion 2017: Tarrytown, NY
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We're stepping back in time for this year's reunion, in nearby Tarrytown, NY.
On Saturday, October 14, 2017, Wyckoffs near and far will gather in Tarrytown, NY for a one-day reunion, exploring our Dutch history and heritage. Cousins will gather for a family picnic at Washington Irving’s Sunnyside estate with an option to tour the author’s famed 19th-century home. Located on the riverfront in the Historic Hudson Valley, with a strong Dutch footprint in the 17th century, Sunnyside evokes Washington Irving’s romanticized view of colonial New York and nature with bucolic gardens and colonial styled architecture.
Reunion Schedule
- 11:30 am: Family gathering at the Sunnyside
- 12 pm: Picnic lunch provided for annual meeting
- 3:00 pm: Optional tour of Sunnyside
- 4:30 pm Goodbyes
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MAY
Family Day
Saturday May 20
11 am-3 pm, FREE
Bread & Brew
Sunday May 21
2-5 pm, $49 - Tickets
Call for member discount
JUNE
Garden Volunteer Day
Flowers, Herbs, Weeds
Saturday, Jun 3,10 am-1 pm, Free, Preregister
Museum Closed June 10
Naturalization Event
Thursday, June 15, 10 am
RSVP required
Family Day + Farmer's Market + Natural Dyeing
Saturday June 17
11 am-3 pm, FREE
JULY
Family Day + Farmer's Market + Fermentation
Saturday June 17
11 am-3 pm, FREE
Garden Volunteer Day
Summer Veggies
Saturday, July 22
10 am-1 pm
Free, Preregister
AUGUST
Family Day + Farmer's Market + Medicinal Herbs
Saturday August 19
11 am-3 pm, FREE
Garden Volunteer Day
Perennial Plants + Weeds
Saturday, August 26
10 am-1 pm
Free, Preregister
New Public Hours
Open Fridays and Saturdays between 1-4pm for tours every half hour.
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A Message from the Director
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 Dear Cousins & Friends,
The snow has melted and the tulips are in full bloom. Spring is here! Like the tulip bulbs that have been storing energy all winter, the Wyckoff House is ready to bloom. With your continued support, we have another busy summer and fall ahead.
We have had a stream of students visiting the farmhouse these last few months, churning butter, making sachets, and writing with quills. Our new garden team has been busy prepping the grounds for the season ahead. The winter months proved especially popular for our monthly family days. Families made colonial games and corn husk dolls. We are very excited to announce that our summer family days (June through November) will be accompanied by our revived Farmers Market. If you are in the area stop by for veggies that we grow and other homemade products from our community members. Each market will offer an urban homesteading demonstration and workshops such as Natural Dyeing, Spinning and Felting, Medicinal Herbs, and Waffles on the Hearth. In June, in partnership with USCIS, we are excited to host our 3rd Naturalization Ceremony for new American Citizens in our community.
This is just a taste of the activities we have on the calendar. You can stay up-to-date with our new online calendar HERE.
With a new rolling membership campaign, we have seen a greater retention in our membership. With your help, we can begin to regrow our base. We will be launching this year's Membership campaign shortly and hope you will renew at the highest level that your family can sustain. We are also looking for membership recruiters to help us grow. Please email me if you are interested.
We hope you will join us for one of our upcoming spring and summer programs. Our robust and affordable schedule of activities could not be possible without our members like you.
Much Gratitude and Happy Spring!
Melissa Branfman
Museum Director
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Summer Program Highlights Ahead
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Farmers Market: Join us on the 3rd Saturday of each month for our new and improved farmers market. June through November. More info.
Artist-in-Residence: After last year's successful residency, we will be welcoming local textile artist Iviva Olenick as our AIR. Stay tuned for upcoming programs with her. More info.
Camp Visits: We are filling our summer schedule with visits from summer schools and camps. Help us spread the word! More info.
Workshops: We have a great roster of artists joining our farmers market each month with hands-on skills including natural dyeing, hearth cooking, fermentation, and more! Info.
Steel Pan Orchestra: For the 2nd season we look forward to hosting our neighboring Steel Pan Orchestra, Higher Levin. Stop by and enjoy their music Mon-Friday 5-8pm in the summer months.
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Education Update
By Alyx Maglio
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 Spring has finally sprung and we're in the home stretch before summer break. Our programs have expanded more and more this year, opening up after-school opportunities as well as during the day. Our Teen Thursdays program has been a huge success, involving young teenagers from our community in and teaching them all about what it is to work in a museum. Our school programming is nothing to dismiss either! We've already seen an increase in classes for the 2016-2017 school year and the only way to keep going is up!
Our educators have put their hearts into the program and it shows, as teachers and students walk out our Dutch Doors with smiles on their faces and handmade crafts in their pockets.
We thank you for your continued dedication to and support for our education programming! We could not do this without your generous support!
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St. Nicholas Day
By Alyx Maglio
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It may have been some time ago but the warmth of Saint Nicholas Day continues to keep our hearts cozy even in the rainy April weather. Together with our community we welcomed Saint Nicholas with a song, made hot apple cider, and decorated our tree to ring in a wonderful 2017.
Throughout the day we made crafts, explored the house, and enjoyed old Dutch traditions made new for the holiday season. As always, we can't hold these events without your generosity and support and we want to extend our warmest thanks to you!
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Thanks to cousin, Alison Vanderbilt for sharing some important historic documents from her Wyckoff line.
This list dates back to 1803 and outlines an inventory of goods that would be passed to Rachel Wyckoff upon the death of her husband, Elias Wyckoff. Goods include a "large Dutch Cubbard" worth $6, a woman's saddle worth $8, "Buckwheat in the field" . . .etc.
Share your Stories
Do you have any old finds like this or family stories to share? Send them in to Melissa for next season's upcoming newsletter. melissa@wyckoffmuseum.org |
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Cousin Garret A. Wyckoff of southern California visited the ancestral homestead with his family this week. They shared this great photo of his family visiting several decades ago. His grandfather is rumored to be one of the last Wyckoffs born in the house.
To the right we have Garret's bother Bryan Wyckoff, his son Junior, their father John F.C. Wyckoff, grandmother Wilemina Wyckoff as well as Ann and Cheryl Wyckoff.
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Thanks to Brooklyn Animal Action and our generous donors, we were able to trap and neuter 11 cats on the property. Most of them were able to find happy homes.
Four of them, though, after being cared for by the doctors, were released back at the Wyckoff Farm. They've had a ball chasing each other through the garden, and guarding our crops from intruders. A truly symbiotic relationship!
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After 15 years as the museum's beloved tour docent and historian, Lucie Chin has retired.
Lucie Chin is one of the most intelligent, interesting women we have had the privilege of knowing at the Wyckoff House. For fifteen years, she imparted the kind of expertise that one might expect in an institution far bigger than our own. Her wide-ranging knowledge of the Dutch Colonial period, and of American history in general, has been an invaluable asset to all of us who had the chance to work with her.
Beyond that. Lucie is always ready with a listening ear, helping us through the day or offering some words of wisdom. Her presence and her determination remain an inspiration to all of us here, and we will miss her deeply.
To Lucie, we say: thank you for all the knowledge you've given us. Tot Ziens, as the Dutch would say -- Goodbye! And come visit!
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Meet Anna
Hello! I am thrilled to be joining the team at the Wyckoff House Museum as the new Farm & Garden Coordinator and Community Engager. While I originally hail from California, I have deep familial roots in Brooklyn. I am greatly looking forward to stewarding this historic site and all of its flowers, herbs, berries, native plants, pollinators, kittens and more. I have been working in community based agriculture for the last several years in urban and rural parts of this country. I am grateful to have landed here, where's there's a special blend of farmhouse quiet and city life. See you in the garden!
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Spring 2017 Update
Spring is upon us, and we are off to a great start. Our trees are budding and our bulbs are blooming. We have already had two wonderful volunteer groups from the Apple Stores in NYC join us for work days in the garden. With their help, our vegetable and flower gardens are looking great and we are ready for a bountiful season ahead.
Farmers Markets & Garden Programs
This June we will start our pilot Farmer's Markets program. On the third Saturday of each month from June through November, we will be hosting markets, workshops, and local vendors to sell their wares. Stop by and pick up fresh produce, herbs, bouquets, shop with our neighborhood vendors, and learn a new homesteading skill. We will be offering workshops that cover topics from waffle making on the hearth to natural dyeing with plants from the garden. We will also be hosting monthly Skill Building Garden Work Days where we will be learning a new garden skill and doing hands-on work. Make sure to stop by!
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Spring Bouquets
Gardener Grace has been making beautiful bouquets for the house from the garden. We will be making these bouquets with seasonal flowers well into the fall, and many will be available at our summer markets!
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Caretaker Corner
by Caretaker James
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Hello! As I approach my one-year anniversary as the Wyckoff House caretaker (office manager and tour guide), I cannot help but think of all the enjoyment (and labor) that my time here has embodied. In turbulent times, the "farm" seems something of a sanctuary, with the peacefulness of the garden and the quiet of the old house. But we have our share of action here too, with all the new projects (from the roof to the compost bins, the vegetable beds to the berry patch) and programs. I look forward to another summer here, watching the garden flourish, and helping the grounds to remain another small green space in a large city for all of us to enjoy.
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James and Grace assemble the new compost bins donated by NYC Compost Project.
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All Natural Wyckoff Bug Spray
Keep the bugs away the natural way! All-natural bug spray made by Brooklyn-based Earth House Oils specially for the Wyckoff House Museum. Made from lemon balm and lavender grown here in the garden, plus tea tree and citronella oils. 1 oz. ($8). 4 oz. ($15). Buy Online.
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This ceramic stoneware two-toned speckled 16-oz. mug is perfect for the bistro or the office. Show off your Wyckoff pride with style!
Buy Online
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Wyckoff Farmhouse Puzzle
This 100-piece puzzle features a color photo of Wyckoff House in spring with tulips. Puzzle measures 8.25" x 11.75" and comes in a decorative tin (8" x 6"). $15.
Buy Online
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This stand-up wooden replica of the Wyckoff House Museum makes the perfect stocking stuffer, not to mention a great souvenir of New York's oldest structure and first landmark. Standing 7.25" across by 3.25" high, your handheld Wyckoff House will fit perfectly on a desk, windowsill, or mantle. $22.
Buy Online
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New Apparel
Screen printed Gildan Ultra Cotton T-shirt in a variety of colors. 6.1 oz., 100% pre-shrunk cotton. Adult sizes S-XL, Youth sizes S-XL. $15-20.
Buy Online
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Wyckoff Caps
100% brushed cotton twill low-profile baseball cap embroidered with line drawing of Wyckoff House. Adjustable slide buckle closure in back. Available in three attractive color options. $20.
Buy Online
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For more shop items, visit our online store!
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