Last Saturday we visited the Flatlands\u00a0Reformed Church Cemetery which is the oldest church cemetery in Brooklyn. \u00a0It interns\u00a0the remains of some of the first families in Brooklyn who lived here in the 17th century. I was surprised to learn that\u00a0Juliette and I are related to some of the interned: The Hooglandts, the Newkirks, the Bergens, the Schnecks, the Rapaljes. \u00a0When they immigrated many\u00a0of them were political and religious refugees<\/a> of their homeland. Yet we tend to only think of them as settlers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The\u00a0Flatlands Reformed Church<\/a> was established in\u00a01654, and this greek revival style church building was built in 1848. The Dutch Reformed Church<\/a> was formed in the\u00a0Protestant Reformation<\/a>,<\/b> its first church (now\u00a0called the Marble Collegiate Church<\/a>) in the Americas was in New Amsterdam, now Manhattan.<\/p>\n We brought tulips to the church cemetery since they are often associated with the Dutch. \u00a0While researching this post I discovered that the association\u00a0has everything to do with a historical event called Tulip Mania.<\/a>\u00a0 It is the story of the first known economic bubbles,\u00a0when the price of tulip bulbs became unsustainable in the Dutch market. \u00a0This occurred during the Dutch Golden Age<\/a>\u00a0(1568\u20131648) in 1636,\u00a0this church was founded\u00a0less than 20 years later.<\/p>\nReformed Church Cemetery History<\/h2>\n
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A spooky mist rolled through the graveyard while we were there.
<\/p>\nReflections on American History<\/h2>\n