Almost a century later, student revisits her one-room schoolhouse

Mary Leitch, 101, signed the blackboard at the Irondale Schoolhouse in Millerton on Saturday, May 25. She attended the school through second grade.
John Coston
Mary Leitch, 101, signed the blackboard at the Irondale Schoolhouse in Millerton on Saturday, May 25. She attended the school through second grade.
MILLERTON — Mary Leitch was retracing her steps as she entered the one-room Irondale Schoolhouse on Saturday, May 25.
At 101 years old, Leitch, of Amenia, has rich memories of the time she and her sister Florence sat in class next to each other in a double seat, including when the teacher’s husband would come in and play Santa for the children.
The Irondale Schoolhouse on Main Street opened for the season on May 25 with free ice cream sundaes and tours of the historical site, moved in 2013 to Millerton to serve as a public information and visitor center managed by the Friends of the Irondale Schoolhouse.
Visitors Lillian and Estelle Cichetti, aged 7 and 5 respectively, from Pine Plains, were occupied making their own sundae treats.
Lillian, right, and Estelle Cichetti, aged 7 and 5 respectively, from Pine Plains, made their own sundae treats on Saturday, May 25, at the season opening of the historic, one-room Irondale Schoolhouse. John Coston
Leitch was about Lillian’s age when the schoolhouse closed and she moved on to Millerton High School. She chucked a bit when someone pointed out that she went from second grade to high school.
Leitch’s walk to the Irondale school was down a hill, through a field and then up Route 22. Upon graduation from high school, Leitch started work doing housework and then worked in a laundry. Her father, Antonio, was a masonry contractor and her mother, Alena, was a stay-at-home mom.
Prompted for a photo-op Leitch, who had been ensconced in a chair in front of the building, she walked inside. Glancing around, she recalled memory after memory of a childhood partly spent there. She seemed to possess a photographic record.
“That’s where the teacher was,” she said, pointing to the front wall.
“I sat up front,” she said, with my sister.
The Irondale Schoolhouse, with records dating back to 1858, was one of fourteen one-room schoolhouses in the Town of North East. It was closed in 1930.
The photo-op: Leitch strolled to the blackboard and signed her name. Then turned and gave a little smile.
Built in 1820, 1168 Bangall Amenia Road sold for $875,000 on July 31 with the transfer recorded in August. It has a Millbrook post office and is located in the Webutuck school district.
STANFORD — The Town of Stanford with nine transfers in two months reached a median price in August of $573,000 for single family homes, still below Stanford’s all-time median high in August 2024 of $640,000.
At the beginning of October there is a large inventory of single-family homes listed for sale with only six of the 18 homes listed for below the median price of $573,000 and seven above $1 million.
July transfers
79 Ernest Road — 4 bedroom/2.5 bath home on 6.87 acres in 2 parcels sold to Matthew C. Marinetti for $1,225,000.
29 Drake Road — 3 bedroom/3.5 bath home on 2 acres sold to Harper Montgomery for $850,000.
6042 Route 82 — 4 bedroom/2 bath home on 1.09 acres sold to Spencer Thompson for $795,000.
125 Tick Tock Way — 3 bedroom/2.5 bath ranch on 1.9 acres sold to Fleur Touchard for $475,000.
August transfers
102 Prospect Hill Road — 3 bedroom/2 bath home on 6.35 acres sold to Karl Creighton Pfister for $565,000.
252 Ernest Road — 2 bedroom/1 bath cottage on .85 acres sold to Meg Bumie for $465,000.
1196 Bangall Amenia Road — 4 bedroom/2.5 bath home on 2.16 acres sold to Roderick Alleyne for $875,000.
Hunns Lake Road (#759929) — 59.1 acres of residential land sold to Argos Farm LLC for $3,325,000.
* Town of Stanford recorded real estate transfers from July 1 to August 31 provided by Dutchess County Real Property Office monthly transfer reports. Details on each property from Dutchess Parcel Access - properties with an # indicate location on Dutchess Parcel Access. Market data from One Key MLS and Infosparks .Compiled by Christine Bates, Real Estate Advisor with William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, Licensed in Connecticut and New York.
Hunt club members and friends gathered near Pugsley Hill at the historic Wethersfield Estate and Gardens in Amenia for the opening meet of the 2025-2026 Millbrook Hunt Club season on Saturday, Oct. 4. Foxhunters took off from Wethersfield’s hilltop gardens just after 8 a.m. for a hunting jaunt around Amenia’s countryside.
Joining in the fun at the dedication of the new pollinator pathway garden at The Millbrook Library on Saturday, Oct. 4, local expert gardener Maryanne Snow Pitts provides information about a planting to Lorraine Mirabella of Poughkeepsie.
MILLBROOK — Participating in a patchwork of libraries that have planted pollinator pathway gardens to attract insects and birds to their native plantings was one of the accomplishments being celebrated at the dedication of a new pollinator garden at the Millbrook Library on Saturday, Oct. 4.
“A lot of work went into it,” said Emma Sweeney, past President of the Millbrook Garden Club, who started the local library’s initiative two years ago.
The Pollinator Pathway program is a national effort to plant native plants that native insects depend upon for sustenance and preferred plants for their own seasonal reproduction.
Jana Hogan of Ridgefield, Connecticut, Executive Director of the Pollinator Pathway program, was on hand to present a plaque to the library for its successful participation.
“A garden is not just a garden,” said garden designer Andy Durbridge of Wassaic, designer of the library’s garden. “It may serve as a model for other gardens along the line.”
Speaking to the 50 visitors at the dedication, Durbridge said that the library’s garden has a mission, that it is a working garden, planned to serve insects and birds over their seasons. The earliest plants support pollinators, while the full range of plants continues to serve the needs of those they attract, offering habitat, shelter and food.
A pollinator garden is akin to a prairie, rather than a formalized European garden, Durbridge noted.
The garden project was supported by the library’s Friends group using funds raised during the Holiday Silent Auction and ongoing book sale. A grant from the Millbrook Garden Club also provided support.
Amenia Town Hall on Route 22.
AMENIA — After gathering comments from the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals, as it considers adding alternate members to those boards, the Town Board discussed possible changes to local laws governing those boards at its meeting on Friday, Oct. 3. The meeting date, usually on a Thursday, had been changed to accommodate a holiday.
In recent weeks Town Board attorney Ian Lindars has been compiling comments from the affected boards along with comments from the Town Board. The new laws may bring the appointment of two alternate members to each board. Alternate members are likely to be required to attend all meetings and be prepared to be seated if needed and be familiar with the applications being discussed. They would also need to take training required of all board members.
Lindars will prepare a draft of the new local laws to be reviewed by the Town Board and the affected boards.
As the Town Board begins work on the town’s annual budget negotiation process and anticipating an increase in some budget lines to accommodate major projects, the board unanimously approved three resolutions. The first will override the tax levy limit imposed on municipalities by the state of New York, a limit generally tied to the rate of inflation.
A public hearing on the proposal to override the levy limit was set for Thursday, November 6, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall.