Amenia Planning Board member suggests a moratorium
Amenia Town Hall on Route 22.
Photo by Nathan Miller
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297 Wiltsie Bridge Road is currently listed for sale at $1,450,000, one of 15 homes currently on the market in Ancram.
Photo by Dave Hall
Ancram is named for the Scottish town associated with the Livingston family, an influential colonial family, which received an extensive grant of Mohican land from the British Crown in 1686. The town is part of the ancestral homeland of the Mohican people, many of whom were displaced during European colonization. However, some descendants of Ancram’s early European settlers continue to live in the area, alongside weekend residents and more recent arrivals from elsewhere in the United States and abroad.
Much of the soil in the town is extremely fertile, and many properties combine residential life with farming, with owners often leasing fields to local farmers. Locals and visitors from all over the region come to pick berries and to shop for farm produce.
Ancram has several bodies of water and a number of waterfront properties. Long Lake is home to two different neighborhoods, one a planned community, and Lower Rhoda Pond has a number of residences lining its shores. The Roeliff-Jansen Kill, which brings water from western Massachusetts to the Hudson River, flows through town and is lined with farms and homes.
Many landowners have put their property into conservancy, protecting it from development, thereby ranking Ancram among the towns with the most conserved land in the county. Some of that land is wooded, some is farmland, and some spots are hiking destinations, like Overmountain, which includes Round Ball Mountain, and the Drowned Lands Swamp area. There are also hiking trails in Taghkanic State Park, a portion of which borders Ancram, and canoeing and kayaking on the Roeliff-Jansen.
The varied housing choices in Ancram benefit from the rural and scenic benefits that residents have long enjoyed. From properties with expansive western views of the Catskill Mountains to ones facing the Taconic range along the Massachusetts border, homes of varying sizes and styles offer views of the landscape. And homes nestled among tranquil woods and fields also draw buyers to the area.
The high desirability and relative scarcity of available land for building have made land prices soar and has put pressure on the town’s ability to create affordable workforce housing. However, Ancram is attempting to address that challenge: its Housing Committee is tasked with finding ways to bring more housing to the town while still respecting the rural character to which the town is expressly committed.
Committee Chair Bonnie Hundt reports that questions of zoning and density are being addressed jointly by the committee and the zoning board in ongoing efforts to keep Ancram affordable to all. And the town allows accessory dwelling units (or ADUs), which can ease the inventory shortage.
The median home price in Ancram from Aug. 1, 2025, through July 31, 2026, was $672,500, compared with $663,500 during the preceding 12-month period, a 1.4% increase. Twelve homes sold between Aug. 1, 2025 and July 31, 2026, down from 16 for the same period one year prior.
As of Aug. 6, there were 15 homes for sale in zip code 12502 and 12 in 12503. That represents a 45.5% decrease year-on-year for 12502 and an increase of 100% in 12503.
Some homes currently for sale: 322 Arcadia Drive, a three-bedroom, four bath home in a planned lake community with amenities is listed at $575,000. 1715 County Route 7, a four- bedroom, three-bath 2004 hilltop colonial on 13 acres is on the market for $910,000. And with over 22 acres on the Roeliff-Jansen Kill an 1850 farmhouse with three bedrooms and three baths is on offer for $1,450,000.
With all it has to offer, from nature and food to attractive properties, Ancram is understandably in demand and inventory is tight.
David “Dave” Norman Hall is a real estate salesperson licensed in New York, and is an agent with Houlihan Lawrence.
Sales information from NY State Tax Department, and One Key and Hudson Valley Catskill Region Multiple Listing Services.
The Ancram Center for the Arts is a cultural hub offering theater, music, storytelling, and community programs.Photo by Dave Hall
Marina Kotchoubey at the Ian Ingersoll Cabinetmakers showroom in West Cornwall.
Photo by D.H. Callahan
Sometime in the mid-2010s, with grandkids accumulating, he started to picture a future away from the shop. It was getting time to step away and enjoy what he insists is one of the most beautiful parts of the world: the Northwest Corner of Connecticut. But just because he was aging out of the job didn’t mean his employees needed to as well.
Ingersoll recognized the home he’d built for these creative experts — a place where they, too, could make their livings building masterworks of fine furniture. So, for his next big challenge, he began the search for someone he could trust to take what he’d made and build it even better. After searching for quite some time, he decided to look next door.
Technically, Marina Kotchoubey grew up in Manhattan but she spent weekends and summers in Cornwall, Connecticut, feeling more at home amongst the woods and rivers of Litchfield County than in the subways of the city. But business opportunities kept her away from making her permanent home in the region.
After college, Kotchoubey moved to Paris to run the U.S. branch of children’s fashion brand Petit Bateau. At the young age of 23, it was a job she wasn’t ready for. But that’s where Kotchoubey finds her creative challenges.
By pairing the experience of her peers and coworkers with her razor-sharp intuition, Kotchoubey ran the brand with seamless expertise despite her lack of experience. She jumped into the deep end of the pool and challenged herself to swim. For seven years, she swam like an Olympian.
After her time in France, she felt ready to finally make a home in Cornwall. With no career or even job lined up, she approached several local businesses around the Northwest Corner and offered to help out in a consulting capacity. After years of challenging conditions in the deep end, this seemed like calm, shallow waters. And that’s when her neighbor, Ian Ingersoll, approached her.
At first, he was looking for a little help with business issues. Ian Ingersoll Cabinetmakers was doing well, but a younger customer base of homeowners and interior designers weren’t as keen on classic Shaker furniture. Though the studio had already started to diversify their offerings, Kotchoubey was instrumental in implementing a smooth transition to other styles of furniture. Ingersoll saw that, thanks to her breadth of experience and enterprising vision, she could take the baton and run with it.
In 2025, he handed her the keys.
When she took the reins, Kotchoubey saw two new ways forward. She could shake things up and pivot the shop toward installations and on-site custom builds. This would require new equipment, new clients and possibly new craftsmen. The other path leaned into what she had already helped the company do: expand its offerings and cater to a new, less traditionally minded clientele.
With confidence in her craftsmen and the reputation their work has garnered, she resisted the urge to pivot and instead relied on what makes Ian Ingersoll Cabinetmakers great — high-quality furniture made by expert craftsmen.
The journey isn’t quite as easy as it sounds. There are great challenges that come with being a young woman in an older man’s world. Firstly, she had to win the respect of her employees, despite not sharing in their skills and know-how. She accomplished that, once again, by listening to the experts and not forcing her vision on a remarkably capable group. The woodworking side of things might be new, but her ability to swim in unknown waters has proven unflappable throughout her career.
Now in its sixth decade of operations, Ian Ingersoll Cabinetmakers shows no sign of slowing down. Kotchoubey’s leadership is finding new customers by expanding on the reputation of the work. With increasing demand and a steadfast commitment to slow, quality jobs, don’t expect to pop into their West Cornwall showroom and leave with a piece anytime soon. Lead times on custom creations range from 12 to 16 weeks, but if things keep going the way they are, that wait could get even longer.
To see some of the company’s offerings, visit ianingersoll.com.
Marina Kotchoubey at the Ian Ingersoll Cabinetmakers.Photo by D.H. Callahan
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