Free persons of color were always at risk of being kidnapped and illegally sold into slavery in the south, and a proximity of community helped with a collective security.

Ceramic fragments found at the site indicate that Martin had communal dining and tea drinking at his home, suggesting that he was well established socially and possibly politically in the community.

[8][9][10] The area was home to free blacks that owned small farms and who worked for "elite' families along the Hudson river.

[11][12][13][14][15][16] On December 22, 2017, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced 23 properties to be sites recommended by New York State Board of Historic Preservation for the state and national registry as a historic place including the New Guinea site located at East Market Street in Hyde Park.

Work by the Dutchess County Historical Society in 2022 revealed that the New Guinea extended immediately west of the Hackett Hill site.