"Newburgh - classic American Melting pot " a Newburgh Travel Page by Ekahau

About 50 miles North and up the Hudson River on the west side of the Hudson is the City of Newburgh. Even before the Germans and the Scots settled this part of the world it was the home of The Waoranek people who were part of the Lenape tribe of the Algonquin Nation. Than to bore you even more a Dutch settler named Adrian Van der Donck set up nearby in a place called "Quassaick" as early as around 1650.

Newburgh the name comes not from the first settlers (who like the people who settle a little North in New Pultz) were Protestants but of the Lutheran flavor. This group came from the area of the middle Rhine called the Palatine. They took taken shelter in England than settled in this area of the Hudson which was called the New Palatine Parish arriving in the very early 1700dreds. The Scottish sort of took over and by about 1740 had a ferry going and changed the name after the Scottish city where they came from Newburgh. But the Scottish and even John Cleese would be mortified at how it is pronounced not Scottish at all. You see in Scotland the suffix 'burgh' is pronounced 'burra' e.g. Edinburgh but here it is berg like iceberg.

For you VT history buffs Newburgh is another place Washington slept -- in fact for a very long time as it was his HQ for the last few years of the War of American Independence. So, the name "birthplace of the republic” It was in the city of Newburgh that peace was declared and the end of the war with terms were decided.

Newburgh is a real melting pot always was still is in resent years the past quarter century it has become home to a large Mexican American community specifically. In fact a movie about the subject player on our public television station called the "The Sixth Section" about the Mexican American community and the projects for their former home town in Mexico.