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The Nine Partners Road Quaker Meetinghouse, built in 1780, will be the site of two summer lectures sponsored by the Millbrook Historical Society.
Photo by Leila Hawken
MILLBROOK — Long in the planning, the Millbrook Historical Society has announced that it is sponsoring two lectures in observance of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. Both lectures relating to Quaker history are to be held in the historic Quaker Meeting House on Nine Partners Road.
For the first talk, scheduled for Sunday, June 29, at 2 p.m., the historical society has invited Sarah Gronningsater, Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, to talk on “Quakers, Anti-slavery, and the American Revolution.” The topic will explore the role that New York’s Quakers, especially in the Hudson Valley, played in the rise of the anti-slavery movement that followed the American Revolution.
The second talk, scheduled for Sunday, July 27, at 2 p.m., invites Carl Lounsbury of the College of William and Mary and Colonial Williamsburg to speak on the architecture of the Nine Partners Meetinghouse. His talk is titled, “Nine Partners Meetinghouse Plan: A New Form in the Hudson Valley.” Expert in early American architecture, Lounsbury’s talk will compare Nine Partners with other later houses of worship in New York and New England.
Both lecture events will be held at the 1780 brick Nine Partners Quaker Meetinghouse in Millbrook. An earlier meetinghouse on the site had burned. The building has remained largely unchanged since the 18th century.
Given the age of the structure, handicapped access is limited and there are no rest room facilities.
Visitors should enter through the cemetery gate entrance.
The lectures are free and open to all, supported by a grant from the county and offered as part of Dutchess County’s participation in the nation’s 250th anniversary commemoration.
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Downtown Millerton
Photo by Aly Morrissey
MILLERTON — Voter turnout in the Village of Millerton dropped sharply in 2025, with just 58 ballots cast in this year’s village election — less than a third of the record turnout seen just two years earlier.
The election on June 17 marked a stark contrast to 2023, when signs littered the intersection of Route 22 and Route 44 and 208 voters headed to the polls to decide a competitive mayoral race between incumbent Jenn Najdek and challenger Kelly Kilmer. That year also featured two contested trustee positions and generated the highest turnout in at least five years.
This year’s ballot looked much different. All three candidates — Mayor Jenn Najdek, Trustee David Sherman, and newcomer Katie Cariello — ran unopposed. With no contested races, just 57 voters turned out, plus one absentee ballot and one spoiled ballot.
Participation in village elections has fluctuated significantly over the past five years, often correlating with whether races were contested.
An uncontested trustee race during the first summer of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 saw unusually low turnout with just 17 ballots cast. The 2022 election, which also featured two unopposed trustee candidates, saw a more typical 135 ballots.
Years with competitive mayoral or trustee races saw spikes in participation. In 2021, 147 voters turned out, followed by a special runoff one week later that drew 157 ballots after a tied trustee race. During that race, three trustees ran for two seats, with David Sherman and Laurie Kerr ultimately elected.
The most recent contested election in 2024 drew 122 voters. Matthew Hartzog, Matthew Soleau and Kelly Kilmer ran, with Hartzog and Soleau elected. While that marked a dip from the previous year, it was still more than double the number who turned out this year.
While elections in small villages like Millerton often see modest turnout, the wide swings from year to year suggest that competitive races — and clearer distinctions between candidates — play a major role in mobilizing voters.
Despite the lack of competition, this year’s election produced a few notable results. Trustee David Sherman led all candidates with 52 votes, including 13 on the Republican line and 39 on the Democratic. Mayor Najdek was re-elected with 47 votes — 41 on the Democratic line and six on the Republican. Newcomer Katie Cariello received 39 votes — 34 Democratic and five Republican. There were also four write-ins for mayor and three for trustee.
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The Amenia Free Library on Route 343 in Amenia.
Photo by John Coston
AMENIA — Fans of reading will want to attend an upcoming book talk at the Amenia Library on Saturday, June 28, 11:30 a.m., when local author Jorge Sanchez will discuss his short stories based on his own life, finding enough about his life that was amusing and engaging to want to share it with others.
Sanchez will discuss his stories published as Sanchez 5 Inbound: Collection 1 and 2. He also plans to answer questions, discuss the process, and sign copies.
Recognized for his self-deprecating sense of humor, the stories flow with plot lines that find the humorous side of muddling through chaos, promising a talk that will captivate and entertain.
A lifelong interest in writing suggested that the best path would be a series of short stories. Sanchez chose the format as preferable to a full-length novel, choosing to write the stories that grew out of his own life’s experiences.
Sanchez was raised in Spanish Harlem, going on to attend college in Buffalo, NY. After pursuing a musical career, gigging in New York City with a variety of bands, he returned to school to study web design and development, his career for the past 24 years. Within the past year, he has reconnected with his passion for writing.
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Joseph Robert Meehan
Jun 25, 2025
SALISBURY — Joseph Robert Meehan the 2nd,photographer, college professor and nearly 50 year resident of Salisbury, passed away peacefully at Noble Horizon on June 17, 2025. He was 83.
He was the son of Joseph Meehan the 1st and his mother, Anna Burawa of Levittown, New York, and sister Joanne, of Montgomery, New York.
He is predeceased by his wife, Elsie Lynn Meehan who passed away in November of 2023.
He leaves behind a son, Joseph Cortese, of Upton Massachusetts, his wife Mary and grandchildren, Michaela (Cortese)Donabedian, her husband Sevag and his great grandson, Ari, of Hopkinton, Massachusetts.
His grandson, Joseph Cortese, of Barrington, Rhode Island, and his granddaughter, Jaclyn Cortese of Tamworth, New Hampshire.
He also leaves behind his daughter, Kathleen Cortese Zito and husband Dominic, their three children, Michael, Alessandra, and Mathew Zito of Broomall, Pennsylvania.
After teachingpsychology at Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie, starting in 1968, his40-year career in photography started in the mid to late 70’s and has included assignment work for a wide variety of commercial and editorial publications. Over a thousand of his photographs have appeared in newspapers, books, magazines and on web sites for clients such as Nikon, and Hasselblad cameras, SanDisk memory cards, Tiffen Filters, Fujifilm, Eastman Kodak, the U.S. Army, National Geographic, the Smithsonian Museum and the U.S. Department of the Interior.
His work ranged from the beauty of the Salisbury areato an expedition photographer for arctic animal studies in the high Canadian Arctic, photographing Inuit hunters in Northern Greenland to landscape work in other extreme locals such as Death Valley, California.
Portfolios of his work have featured in such magazines as Outdoor Photographer, Shutterbug, Rangefinder and Popular Photography and his style has been characterized by the New York Times as “…alive with color and sparkling with light.”
He also served as the technical editor of Photo District News for over a decade, writing about new technologies and products and was the former editor of the Photography Yearbook. He has authored over 20 books on photographic technique many of which have received “best book” awards and have been translated into several languages.
Born in New York City, he was a 1959 graduate of Levittown High School, Levittown, New York.
He received his baccalaureate degree with honors from Columbia and a Master of Arts degree from Manhattan College. He has taught photography on the college level in the U.S., England and at the National Academy of Arts in Taiwan and gave workshops at the Palm Beach Photographic Centre in West Palm Beach, Florida.
His eye always saw the beauty of the Salisbury area through alens and he captured those images in an area that he and his wife Lynn loved.
When they were not on/in and around the lake, he and Lynn didn’t miss any of their grandchildren’s big events.Joe took great pride in photographing all these memorable events.
His beautiful images will always be here for all to appreciate.
Funeral services are under the direction of Newkirk-Palmer funeral home and a graveside service will be held this Friday, June 27, 2025, at 11 a.m. at St. Mary’s Cemetery, 18 Cobble Road, Salisbury, Connecticut.
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