In 1624, thirty Walloon families fleeing Spanish Catholic rule arrived with Cornelis May aboard the Nieu Nederlandt. Most settled upriver; eight men remained on Nut Island for fur trading.
Frederick Van Nuys (1874–1944) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician who served as a United States Senator from Indiana from 1933 until his death in 1944. Previously a state senator and U.S. attorney, he became a prominent Midwestern political figure during the Roosevelt era.
The Hudson River is known all over the world as the major waterway that runs by Manhattan Island and north into New York State. The Hudson made New York City and New York State what they are today.
Joe Nieuwendyk (b. 1966) is a Canadian-born professional ice hockey player of Dutch descent who starred in the NHL. A prolific goal scorer, he won three Stanley Cups with three different teams and the 1999 Conn Smythe Trophy.
De Halve Maen (The Half Moon) was the name of the ship in which Henry Hudson charted the river that now bears his name. It was an 85-foot, square-rigged, three-masted wooden sailing vessel, which carried a crew of 15 to 20 men.
Ray Noorda (1924–2006) was an American technology executive and entrepreneur known as the “Father of Network Computing.” As CEO of Novell from 1982 to 1994, he transformed the struggling company into a global leader in network software with its NetWare operating system.
Drawn by dreams of Asian trade, the Dutch stayed in North America for beaver pelts. Beaver fur, ideal for warm felt hats, became essential in rising 17th-century European fashion.
David Van Nostrand (1811–1886) was an American publisher and bookseller who founded the D. Van Nostrand Company in New York in 1848. The firm became a leading publisher of scientific, engineering, and technical works throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
In the 1650s, settlers from Fort Orange founded Esopus midway up the Hudson River, where cargo shifted to smaller boats. Named for a local creek, it became a key farming village.
John Peter Van Ness (1770–1846) was an American politician, soldier, and civic leader who served briefly in the U.S. House of Representatives from New York. After moving to Washington, D.C., he became a militia general and later served as mayor of Washington from 1830 to 1834.
