AMENIA — Between the services it provides to the community and the local gatherings it’s hosted to benefit residents over the years, the Amenia Fire Company has been operating out of the firehouse at 36 Mechanic St. since its inception in 1895.
However, in recent years, the firehouse has encountered a number of issues that have prompted members to realize they’ve outgrown the structure. Knowing that, the company did buy additional property in town to store the equipment that doesn’t fit at the firehouse, but members are now looking to develop a master plan to bring everything back to Mechanic Street, wanting a centralized fire station.
A brief history
Amenia Fire Company Chief Aaron Howard Jr. said the original structure on Mechanic Street burned down in 1941. A new structure was built in its place and in 1947 the Fire Company moved in. That same year, the firehouse built an engine bay; a second engine bay was built in 1962. By 1975, a new side section was added on to the building, completing the structure.
Yet through all of the changes that the firehouse has undergone, Howard said it was always associated with the town of Amenia, which had its Town Hall located inside the building for a number of years.
Many residents may also associate the firehouse as the location for popular community events, such as the starting point for the annual holiday parade, the location for the fire company’s annual chicken barbecues and the site of its popular summer carnival.
Needs, looking ahead
Yet there are issues with the structure’s age, few modern efficiencies and lack of space — especially when new equipment can’t fit in the building. For example, the firehouse’s doors aren’t high or wide enough to fit the new firetrucks that were just purchased.
“Right now, we’re outgrowing this building,” Amenia Fire Company President Rich Howard said.
Seeking a temporary space to house their equipment, Howard said the company purchased property at 15-17 Cascade Road in 2007, from Maplebrook School, which had previously used the property for the its greenhouse operations. In addition to housing a firetruck there, a washer and dryer system is stored at the site as well as an air pump to fill self-contained breathing apparatuses or scott packs.
“Currently we’re operating out of the two properties efficiently and we’re able to provide services to the community,” Howard said, adding it’s now the company’s hope to create one centralized space back on Mechanic Street.
Goals, a vision
In support of the Fire Company’s vision of being “a progressive organization that leads the community in public safety,” the Amenia Fire Company Building Committee announced its goal on Sunday, Jan. 24, to plan, fundraise for and construct a brand new fire station at 36 Mechanic St.
Goals include providing a healthy and safe work environment for all volunteers and guests; to create sufficient space for equipment and administration; to be able to conduct on-site first responder training events and classes; to consider and plan for future needs; and to secure funding for the project as the Amenia Fire Company No. 1.
Howard emphasized that this is a fire company project that will be funded by the company at no cost to the taxpayers. He said the company has sent out fundraising information and is just now starting to scratch the surface in raising the funds necessary to move the project forward.
As the fire company looks into developing a master plan, Howard said the next step would ideally be to form a Building Committee, though he pointed out that the project is still in its infancy.
NORTH EAST — Habitat for Humanity of Dutchess County will conduct a presentation on Thursday, May 9 on buying a three-bedroom affordable home to be built in the Town of North East.
The presentation will be held at the NorthEast-Millerton Library Annex at 5:30 p.m.
Any first-time home buyer interested should attend the information session.
The application for this pilot program home-buying opportunity must be made between May 1 and June 10.Minimum household income for the pilot program is $55,000 while maximum income is determined by family size.
Applications are available at the North East Town Hall.Habitat for Humanity describes itself as a nonprofit with global reach, working across the United States and in approximately 70 countries.
‘Migration Collage' by ransome
If you claim a single sobriquet as your artistic moniker, you’re already in a club with some big names, from Zendaya to Beyoncé to the mysterious Banksy. At Geary, the contemporary art gallery in Millerton founded by New Yorkers Jack Geary and Dolly Bross Geary, a new installation and painting exhibition titled “The Bitter and the Sweet” showcases the work of the artist known only as ransome — all lowercase, like the nom de plume of the late Black American social critic bell hooks.
Currently based in Rhinebeck, N.Y., ransome’s work looks farther South and farther back — to The Great Migration, when Jim Crow laws, racial segregation, and the public violence of lynching paved the way for over six million Black Americans to seek haven in northern cities, particularly New York urban areas, like Brooklyn and Baltimore. The Great Migration took place from the turn of the 20th century up through the 1970s, and ransome’s own life is a reflection of the final wave — born in North Carolina, he found a new home in his youth in New Jersey.
‘Square Quilting painting' by ransomeAlexander Wilburn
Map fragments of North Carolina feature heavily in a large collection of eight-by-eight collage and acrylic paintings, sold individually but together mounted on Geary’s wall resembling the stitched patterns on quilts, like the quilts by the late Black American artist Arlonzia Pettway. Along with artists like Annie Mae Young and Mary Lee Bendolph, Pettway was a renowned artist associated with the quilts of Gee’s Bend, generations of women in the town of Gee’s Bend, Alabama who preserved African American culture in beautiful and vibrant textile art with bold combinations of stripes, textures and colors. The influence is also wonderfully clear in ransome large-scale collages and acrylic paintings like “Square Quilt painting” on display at Geary. It’s a powerful symbol of Gee’s Bend’s legacy continuing on, even under a new artistic medium.
In the smaller works, called “Migration Collages,” painted portraits are combined with pieces of floral and pastel paper, evocative of the tradition of “Sunday Best” splendor worn in Black churches in the South. “The women elders at my Baptist church often greeted each other that way on Sunday mornings when one hat was more elaborate, colorful, or wider brimmed than another,” New York Times veteran Lena Williams wrote in her 1996 essay, “In Defense of the Church Hat.” “It was traditional to put on one’s newest finery for church, and in many historically black churches, the wearing of fancy hats by women carried both spiritual and cultural significance.”
“The Bitter and the Sweet” is on view at Geary through Sunday, June 2.
Hospitality, ease of living and just plain fun are rolled into one for those who are intrigued by the leisure-time Caravana experience at the family-owned Four Brothers Drive-in in Amenia. Tom Stefanopoulos, pictured above, highlights fun possibilities offered by Hotel Caravana.
The month-long process of unwrapping and preparing the various features at the Four Brothers Drive-In is nearing completion, and the imaginative recreational destination will be ready to open for the season on Friday, May 10.
The drive-in theater is already open, as is the Snack Shack, and the rest of the recreational features are activating one by one, soon to be offering maximum fun for the whole family.
Tom Stefanopoulos, the second generation helping to guide the Stefanopoulos family’s recreational complex, brings a deep understanding of hospitality and business sense in support of the multi-faceted enterprise, begun in the 1970s, that is now a mainstay of the town of Amenia, located on a corner in the heart of the commercial district. He paused for an interview on Friday, April 26.
Two luxury camping trailers, each with an attached wooden deck and fire pit, make up Hotel Caravana, and each offers a different fun vibe, Stefanopoulos explained. The larger of the two, offers a California lifestyle, retro to 1967, although its modern where it should be. It can sleep four.
The smaller Caravana sleeps two and offers a lifestyle of the future dating to about 2041. It’s a brand-new Airstream, Stefanopoulos noted. It also has an attached deck with firepit.
“We get a lot of New York City people,” Stefanopoulos said when asked what sorts of people are apt to be attracted to Hotel Caravana. “They want to experience the upstate life,” he added. The idea of sitting out on the deck while watching an actual drive-in movie appeals to them, as does room service offered by the restaurant.
The lobster rolls prepared by the Snack Shack, are served on brioche hot dog rolls, either Maine-style or Connecticut-style, and the lobster can be topped with caviar. Four Brothers version is praised by customers for the generous portion of lobster in each, and the price is competitive.
Caravana guests may book for a single night, or maybe two, or even longer, taking advantage of the bicycles to pedal along the nearby rail trail, a local amenity, Stefanopoulos noted.
“We make our guests feel like movie stars,” Stefanopoulos said of the hospitality. And, if they like miniature golf, it is just a few steps away from their Caravana deck.
Asked how and why the Caravana idea began, Stefanopoulos recalled that as the drive-in theater grew in popularity, people were traveling from greater distances away. The last film of the night might start at midnight, he said, so the idea grew that Four Brothers might be able to offer an accommodation to stay the night.
In addition to Caravana, Four Brothers offers an alternative of two or three tent camping sites.
Future plans may include a third Caravana, Stefanopoulos said. Also, there is a giant mastodon skeleton, presently in storage, that should be on display, he said.
“It’s pretty big,” Stefanopoulos added.
The playground might be enlarged in the coming seasons, and perhaps an old-fashioned arcade added for retro amusement.
The community that surrounds Four Brothers remains important to the Stefanopoulos family as they offer substantial summer employment opportunity. Stefanopoulos said that a goal is to contract locally for business needs, such as musical entertainment and advertising. The drive-in also schedules occasion fundraisers to benefit local organizations, including the Amenia Fire Company and area schools.
