Hulda’s Night: Stories, Legends, and History
Storyteller and Other Local Legends (Act I)
During Hulda’s Night, Act One has a Storyteller standing on a stump with only a wood fire to light him as he relates known legends of specific locals in the Preserve, including Spook Rock and Raven’s Rock as well as our most famous legend, the ride of the Headless Horseman.
Spook Rock
The Spook Rock story begins like this. “One night a young Indian returning late from a hunt and passing near the council rock, was surprised to see lights moving in that direction, while at the same time his ears were assailed by the sound of musical voices. Not being ignorant of the sacred character of the place and the miraculous things that had occurred there, his curiosity was at once aroused and he crept cautiously from tree to tree till he came upon a sight of extraordinary interest. A dozen girls, beautiful beyond anything that the young man had ever imagined, were dancing on the surface of the rock. Linking hands, and leaning far outward in the rapid figure, they seemed to tread on the very edge of the stone, if indeed they touched anything more solid than the air at all….”
Pastor Ritzema (Act II)
Pastor Johannes Ritzema, the Pastor of the Old Dutch Church during the time of the Revolutionary War, preaches from his pulpit deep in the woods that border Sleepy Hollow.
His Church, or “Kerk”, has been closed because of skirmishes in the area. We do not know if it was the British or the Rebel forces who closed it this time. The Pastor tells of the sorrows the war has brought to his flock from both Red and Blue coated forces and of his efforts to appeal to the leaders of both sides to show mercy on the residents and especially their farms. But to little avail.
The story of Pastor Ritzema, as told during Hulda’s Night, is a work of fiction, though historical records show that there was a Pastor Ritzema who served at the Old Dutch church in the early days of the revolutionary war.
Hulda (Act III)
The legend of Hulda the Witch dates from the time of the time of the American revolution. In his “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” Washington Irving said that Sleepy Hollow was bewitched by a “high German doctor.” Some believe that Irving was referring to “Hulda the Witch”, a healer who was said to have emigrated from Bavaria and who likely lived in what is today the Rockefeller State Park Preserve. If you have ever hiked the Witch’s Spring Trail, then you have walked by what very might have been Hulda’s home.
At performances of “Hulda’s Night”, audiences hear Hulda’s story from Hulda herself. She tells of her travel from Bavaria, living as an indentured worker alongside enslaved peoples in the Hudson Valley, of her captivity with the Wappinger tribe and of her life ostracized by the Pastor of the Old Dutch Church, leaving her alone and on her own.
Was Hulda a witch or a misunderstood healer? We may never know, but we do know that she died a hero fighting for the American revolution and is certainly an intriguing part of the Preserve’s history. In 2019, The Old Dutch Church erected a headstone for Hulda nearly 250 years after she died. On Hulda’s Night we tell a story based on legend but which includes fiction crafted to tell not only Hulda’s story but what life was like for those who lived in her time.
Revolutionary War History (Act IV “The Journey Home”)
The Rockefeller Preserve is located in Westchester County, NY. During the Revolutionary War, Westchester and surrounding counties were the center of the most dangerous locations in the American Revolution, caught in the crosshairs of the two contending armies.
This was called the “Neutral Zone”, with Washington’s forces in Peekskill and British forces headquartered in Kingsbridge (Bronx).
