About this Event
Mount Vernon Hotel and Garden presents a lecture on the story of Anthony Janszoon van Salee, known as Anthony the Turk, and possibly the first settler of Muslim lineage in the United States.
Noted author and speaker David Furlow will take the audience on a deep dive into a fascinating, rarely acknowledged piece of New York’s earliest history.
Born in Cartagena, Spain in 1607, two years prior to the expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain, Anthony Janszoon van Salee is believed to have been the son of the Dutch Barbary pirate Jan Janszoon and his second wife Margarita. In 1630, at the age of 22, van Salee sailed to the New World with his wife Grietse and by 1638, he had acquired a sizeable farm in Manhattan. The land, near present-day Wall Street, was sold not long after, and in the recorded deed of sale is described by its subsequent owner as having numerous apple, peach and cherry trees, scattered among a field of sage.
Van Salee is thought to have arrived in New Netherlands with a considerable fortune, perhaps through his father. By 1639, at the age of 32, Anthony had become one of the largest landholders on the island of Manhattan. As an original settler and prominent merchant and landholder in New Netherlands, Van Salee and Grietse, were nevertheless the subjects of considerable litigation and ultimately expelled from New Netherlands by representatives of the Dutch Reformed Church, on the charge of “not behaving as pious Christians.” However, after an appeal to the Dutch West India Company, van Salee was granted over 200 acres on Long Island, which at that time included parts of present-day Brooklyn. That property was then known as Turk’s Plantation. Through the marriages of his four daughters, Van Salee is an ancestor of several prominent New York families.
About the Speaker :
David Furlow is an attorney and frequent speaker on subjects in history. After pracitincg law for over three decades, he retired from the Thompson & Knight national law firm in 2013. He has been an onscreen expert for History Channel documentaries and has published numerous articles about New England, New Netherland, New Sweden and the archaeology and history of the Chesapeake region.
David and his wife have three children and four grandchildren. Together they are writing a biography of Isaac Allerton, the fifth signer of The Mayflower Compact and second signer of the Remonstrance of Eight Men of Manhattan
About the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden :
The Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden presents the period of the Mount Vernon Hotel which operated from 1826 until 1833.
Constructed in 1799 as a carriage house for a 23-acre estate, and converted into the Mount Vernon Hotel in 1826, this stone building sits on land originally owned by Colonel William Stephens Smith, and his wife Abigail Adams Smith, daughter of John and Abigail Adams.
This fashionable country resort was popular among New Yorkers who wished to escape the hustle and bustle of the city which at that time extended only as far north as 14th Street. The Hotel advertised itself as “free from the noise and dust of the public roads.”
The Colonial Dames of America (CDA), a women’s lineage society committed to historic education and preservation, purchased the building in 1924. After extensive restoration to the structure, CDA opened the site to the public in 1939. The building endures as a rare reminder of an important era in New York City’s history and 2024 will mark the 225th anniversary of the building’s construction.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
417 E 61st St, 417 East 61st Street, New York, United States
USD 0.00