Community playground: Eddie Collins Memorial Park

Community playground: 
Eddie Collins Memorial Park

Children enjoy the expanded, repaired and resurfaced playground on at Eddie Collins Memorial Park.

JOhn Coston

Eddie Collins Memorial Park has been a mecca for generations of families in Dutchess County.

While it has been a hometown park for Millerton, families travel from nearby Connecticut and points south in the county to enjoy a day in the park or a Little League baseball game.

The park is named after Eddie Collins, who played major league baseball from 1906 to 1930 for the Philadelphia Athletics and the Chicago White Sox. Born in Millerton in 1887, Collins was not only a big leaguer, he was Ivy League, having graduated from Columbia College. He also was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

When the park began to show its age in recent years, a group of civic-minded volunteers launched a renovation project. Due to their efforts, the Millerton community has witnessed a phased revitalization of Eddie Collins Memorial Park over recent years. The park brings the community together, and with its continued expansion seeks opportunities to provide accessible engagement for all.

Stephen Waite, chair of the project committee for the park, recalled that he used to play baseball at the park as a youngster.

“When my nephews started playing here,” he said, “I saw that it had really deteriorated, and I thought we should get the community and its volunteers to make it a project.”

Webutuck Little League celebrates trophy day at the Eddie Collins Park. John Coston

The initial renovation of the park, located at 5991 N. Elm Ave., cost $2.2 million, and was completed in 2022.

That included regrading of the park, a new entrance and paved parking areas, a soccer field, accessible playground upgrades, new basketball courts and pavilion improvements.

A planned pool in the next phase would feature a pool house. In addition, the project envisions a commercial kitchen, community room and other community-oriented spaces.

Lighting of the Little League field for night games will be donated by a group of private citizens. Citizens will handle the installation of the lights from start to finish, then donate them to the Village of Millerton.

In addition to the baseball field, today families enjoy a pavillion, a children’s playground, the basketball courts and a soccer field.

The initial phase of the park’s restoration included new basketball courts. Olivia Valentine

The Village hopes to break ground on a pool in 2025.

“I spent a lot of time at the old Denney Pool as a kid and made many friends there, some I still keep in contact with,” said Waite.

“The pool served the community well for 50 years until closing in 2016. It’s taken eight long years, but I’m pleased that people will once again be swimming in Millerton in the not-too-distant future.

The pool, along with the rest of the park, will be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Funding for this phase of the project is coming largely from a NY SWIMS capital grant that awarded $6.385 million to the village to build a community pool, a bathhouse, community room and septic system at the park. It was part of $38 million in grants to Dutchess County and towns and cities in the Mid-Hudson region just before Labor Day.

Learning on a two-wheeler with training wheels at Eddie Collins Park. John Coston

Latest News

Classifieds - February 26, 2026

Classifieds - February 26, 2026

Help Wanted

PART-TIME CARE-GIVER NEEDED: possibly LIVE-IN. Bright private STUDIO on 10 acres. Queen Bed, En-Suite Bathroom, Kitchenette & Garage. SHARON 407-620-7777.

The Salisbury Association’s Land Trust seeks part-time Land Steward: Responsibilities include monitoring easements and preserves, filing monitoring reports, documenting and reporting violations or encroachments, and recruiting and supervising volunteer monitors. The Steward will also execute preserve and trail stewardship according to Management Plans and manage contractor activity. Up to 10 hours per week, compensation commensurate with experience. Further details and requirements are available on request. To apply: Send cover letter, resume, and references to info@salisburyassociation.org. The Salisbury Association is an equal opportunity employer.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

To save birds, plant for caterpillars

Fireweed attracts the fabulous hummingbird sphinx moth.

Photo provided by Wild Seed Project

You must figure that, as rough as the cold weather has been for us, it’s worse for wildlife. Here, by the banks of the Housatonic, flocks of dark-eyed juncos, song sparrows, tufted titmice and black-capped chickadees have taken up residence in the boxwood — presumably because of its proximity to the breakfast bar. I no longer have a bird feeder after bears destroyed two versions and simply throw chili-flavored birdseed onto the snow twice a day. The tiny creatures from the boxwood are joined by blue jays, cardinals and a solitary flicker.

These birds will soon enough be nesting, and their babies will require a nonstop diet of caterpillars. This source of soft-bodied protein makes up more than 90 percent of native bird chicks’ diets, with each clutch consuming between 6,000 and 9,000 caterpillars before they fledge. That means we need a lot of caterpillars if we want our bird population to survive.

Keep ReadingShow less
Stephanie Haboush Plunkett and the home for American illustration

Stephanie Haboush Plunkett

L. Tomaino
"The field of illustration is very close to my heart"
— Stephanie Plunkett

For more than three decades, Stephanie Haboush Plunkett has worked to elevate illustration as a serious art form. As chief curator and Rockwell Center director at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, she has helped bring national and international attention to an art form long dismissed as merely commercial.

Her commitment to illustration is deeply personal. Plunkett grew up watching her father, Joseph Haboush, an illustrator and graphic designer, work late into the night in his home studio creating art and hand-lettered logos for package designs, toys and licensed-character products for the Walt Disney Co. and other clients.

Keep ReadingShow less
Free film screening and talk on end-of-life care
‘Come See Me in the Good Light’ is nominated for best documentary at this year’s Academy Awards.
Provided

Craig Davis, co-founder and board chair of East Mountain House, an end-of-life care facility in Lakeville, will sponsor a March 5 screening of the documentary “Come See Me in the Good Light” at The Moviehouse in Millerton, followed by a discussion with attendees.

The film, which is nominated for best documentary at this year’s Academy Awards, follows the poet Andrea Gibson and their partner Megan Falley as they are suddenly and unimaginably forced to navigate a terminal illness. The free screening invites audiences to gather not just for a film but for reflection on mortality, healing, connection and the ways communities support one another through difficult life transitions.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.