Discover Marlboro Collection

The original tract of land that would one day become Marlborough, was purchased from the Munsee-Esopus tribe during the 1680s. Following the purchase, Marlborough would see an increase in white men settling in the area in just a few short years. However, these white settlers did not come alone. Often left out of the narrative, these settlers commonly brought their slaves, whose hard efforts shaped the town’s landscape that we know today. While some of Marlborough’s earliest settlers were looking for new prospects, others were seeking a better life and escaping religious persecution, including Luis Moses Gomez, a Spanish Sephardic Jewish merchant. Today, Gomez’s house is still standing just past Marlborough’s town lines, and is one of the oldest Jewish Heritage sites in North America.