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Almost 20 years ago in a packed chapel at The Salisbury School a television journalist famous for his coverage of national politics led a discussion on the question: “Can Democracy Survive the Media?” His name was Sander Vanocur, a prominent reporter whose contemporaries were other big names at political conventions in the 1960s:John Chancellor, Frank McGee and Edwin Newman. Vanocur was one of the questioners at the first of the Kennedy-Nixon debates in 1960.
The Salisbury event back then in 2005 was brought to the Northwest Corner by a unique regional organization known as The Salisbury Forum, which now is celebrating 20 years sponsoring open discourse for a community hungry for thoughtful dialogue.
Last week, another prominent journalist, Judy Woodruff, former anchor and managing editor of the PBS Newshour, was on stage at The Forum’s sold-out event at The Salisbury School. (Read Patrick L. Sullivan’s coverage here.)
For two decades, the Forum, a nonprofit, has hosted speaker forums that “foster a deeper understanding of issues that affect our lives globally and locally,” to quote its mission statement.
As a community we are fortunate to be the beneficiary of such a committed and valuable local organization. The Forum is supported as well by other institutions in our community that provide venues for the Forum’s event. Those include The Hotchkiss School and Salisbury School, The Moviehouse in Millerton and Housatonic Valley Regional High School in Falls Village.
For twenty years, forums — free and open to the public — have explored a wide range of topics that span the rural health crisis in the Northwest Corner, to discussions on food access, the future of journalism, the future of democracy, climate change, citizenship, pandemics, the future of books in an age of AI, as well as subjects related to science, politics and international relations. There seems to be no end to the survey of topics explored by the forums. And no limit to the level of sophistication of its speakers. They include scholars from many disciplines, diplomats, housing experts, award-winning actors of theater, film and television, environmentalists, filmmakers, art critics, theater critics, and on and on with speakers who illuminate the challenges facing America today in civic, political, scientific and cultural life.
The Forum is an adult-ed course we receive for free, which connects us with ideas and draws conversation about the full gamut of Arts and Science of today’s complicated world.
We thank the Forum and its board for an indispensable service to the community. And encourage everyone to visit the Forum’s website to learn more about the people who make it happen and about the history of this nonprofit’s contribution to our community.
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Great Elm, the childhood home of William F. Buckley, Jr., is on the market for $3.9 million. The atrium is the highlight and heart of the home, having hosted many elegant dinners and weddings.
William Raveis Lifestyles Realty
SHARON — For more than a century, the Buckley family’s sprawling estate, known as “Great Elm,” has stood at the heart of Sharon life, a gathering place for neighbors, world leaders and artists alike. Now, the circa 1812 Georgian Colonial with its rare glass atrium is on the market for $3,999,000, drawing both serious buyers and viral attention on Zillow Gone Wild.
The sale, led by Cameron Smith, grandson of family patriarch and oil spectator William F. Buckley, Sr., and nephew to conservative icon William F. Buckley, Jr., marks the end of the family’s stewardship of one of northwest Connecticut’s most storied homes.
“It’s such a unique property,” said listing agent Pels Matthews, broker/owner of William Raveis Lifestyles Realty in Washington Depot. “There is nothing like it in Litchfield County. It reminds me of New Orleans, Charleston or Savannah.”
The listing has already reached a national and international audience thanks to Zillow Gone Wild, a popular online feed that highlights unusual and distinctive homes.
Great Elm’s soaring glass atrium and Buckley legacy has attracted thousands of comments and shares, with readers marveling at both its historic pedigree and its dramatic architectural centerpiece.
The Zillow feed notes: “The only thing better than a house with an atrium is a house with an atrium with bedrooms that all have access to it so everyone can ‘retire to their quarters’ at the end of the night and guess what? This Sharon home has just that. Are we moving to Sharon now?? Hello??? Will Sharon be there??”
“That has taken it to a whole different level,” Matthews said of the viral Zillow exposure.“I’ve got people calling me from Europe, and all over the country.”
Matthews noted that the estate is not just dramatic but is also incredibly livable. “The home can easily support multi-generational living or be shared by two families if desired, with the common atrium.”
The viral attention reflects how the estate, once known primarily within Litchfield County and political circles, now resonates with a wider public fascinated by unique homes with deep stories to tell.
Buckley family’s summer retreat
Built in 1812, purchased by William F. Buckley Sr. in 1923 and expanded in 1929, the house became the Buckley family’s summer retreat. It later shaped the early life of Buckley Jr., who founded the National Review and emerged as a leading conservative voice. To accommodate the growing Buckley family, the home was converted to five condominiums in the 1980s, three of which were occupied by Buckley siblings until their death.
Buckley Sr. died in 1958, Patricia Buckley in 2007, Buckley Jr. in 2008 and James Buckley in 2023.
According to the listing by Willaim Raveis Lifestyles Realty, the home encompasses the majority of the original mansion and was renovated in 2013.
The house, on 8.072 acres, offers eight bedrooms, seven full and two half baths, period pine paneling, historic wallpaper, Art Deco details, multiple fireplaces and private terraces surrounded by specimen trees.
The atrium is the highlight and heart of the home, having hosted many elegant dinners and weddings over the decades. The mature plants can be included in the sale.
The home sits within a larger association that maintains shared amenities including a 70-foot heated pool and tennis and paddle/pickleball courts.
The estate is being sold by Smith, as his family’s presence in Sharon has gradually passed into history, he told Mansion Global in May 2024, when the house originally hit the market for $5.5 million under another brokerage.
“Our generation, except for me, is no longer in Sharon,” Smith said at the time. “The home no longer provides the congregating place it used to. It’s no longer needed for it.”
William Raveis Lifestyles Realty
Where world leaders, neighbors congregated
Though a national figure, William F. Buckley Jr. was deeply tied to local life. He supported the Hotchkiss Library, appeared at the Sharon Green fair, hosted organ recitals and opened Great Elm for musical evenings and fundraisers.
His wife, Patricia, was celebrated as one of New York’s great hostesses, famed for her flittering parties that drew leaders in politics, the arts and business. At Great Elm, she carried that same spirit north, entertaining both Manhattan guests and Sharon neighbors under the soaring glass atrium.
Over the years the estate welcomed figures such as Ronald Reagan, Henry Kissinger, Margaret Thatcher, Tom Wolfe and Malcolm Muggeridge, as well as musicians and artists including harpsichordist Albert Fuller and pianist Samuel Barber, who performed in the house and nearby venues.
The mix of statesmen, writers, performers and townspeople gave Great Elm a unique social rhythm, where international debates might follow a neighborhood concert.
Together the Buckleys gave the estate a dual role, a setting for cosmopolitan society and a lively hub of small-town life, until Paricia’s death in 2007 and William’s in 2008.
Gretchen Hachmeister, executive director of the Hotchkiss Library of Sharon, said the Buckleys’ generosity to the library extends to the grandchildren of William F. Buckley, Sr.
“Several of them, organized by Cameron Smith, made generous gifts to our recent capital campaign and named our new conference room in William F. Buckley, Jr.’s, memory,” she explained. “His son, Christopher, recently gifted us a complete set of his humorous political novels, which have joined the collection of works of both Williams, Christopher and Priscilla.”
Hachmeister noted that several years before she joined Hotchkiss, the library held a fundraiser called “A Bevy of Buckleys” and supporters dined under a tent at Great Elm. She also recalled that “Senator James Buckley was a frequent library patron.”
The Sharon Statement
Matthews noted that Great Elm is more than just a piece of real estate. “It is part of the local fabric of Sharon along with national political history.”
A document known as the Sharon Statement was adopted on Sept. 11, 1960 by a group of 100 young conservatives who convened at the Buckley home for the purpose of creating Young Americans for Freedom, which has been widely regarded by historians as one of the most important declarations in the history of American conservatism.
“The Sharon Statement,” said Matthews, “is an important credo in the conservative movement, and there is a large stone with a plaque on the property with the full statement.”
For Sharon, the listing closes one chapter of local history and opens another. For buyers, said Matthews, it offers a chance to own one of the region’s most distinctive homes, anchored by its glass atrium and its place in American and cultural life.
Whoever buys Great Elm, said Matthews, “will be inheriting that legacy.”
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Brian Ross, left, interviewed Judy Woodruff at the Salisbury Forum Saturday, Sept. 27.
Patrick L. Sullivan
SALISBURY — Judy Woodruff, former anchor and managing editor of the PBS Newshour, said that her fellow journalists do tend to “live in a bubble” and need to get out into the country more, but pushed back on suggestions that national journalists are biased.
Woodruff appeared at the 20th anniversary Salisbury Forum at Salisbury School Saturday, Sept. 27. She was interviewed by Brian Ross, a veteran of television news with ABC News and NBC News (and a member of The Lakeville Journal board).
Ross noted that he and Woodruff broke into national TV news about the same time and invited Woodruff to share some of the story of her career path.
Woodruff said she was working in local TV news in Georgia and got to know Jimmy Carter when he ran for governor.
So when Carter started running for the Democratic nomination for President for the 1976 election, she had what she thought was an inside track
She told her bosses that Carter was worth their attention and was proved correct when he came in second in the New Hampshire primary.
But being the third-string political reporter, she “got knocked off” the campaign but kept hanging around, developing contacts within the Carter team and playing in the softball games between the campaign staff and the press.
It was during one of those games — “I was playing second base” — that she met her husband, Al Hunt.
Between her Carter contacts and consistent pushing on her part she finally landed a job as White House correspondent.
She said it took a while to find her feet. “I had to play catch-up.”
She said the Carter team came to Washington “believing they had the keys to the kingdom.”
Having received minimal help from the Democratic establishment during the campaign, they thought they didn’t need the party’s help in governing.
“It was called the ‘Georgia Mafia.’ Carter relied heavily on his original team.”
Woodruff gave Carter credit for the Camp David agreement between Israel and Egypt, a pact that has lasted to the present day.
Ross asked about left-of-center “groupthink” within the press corps.
“It’s very competitive,” Woodruff said. “You want to get it right, get it better and you’d love to get it first.”
She said she thinks news organizations pay too much attention to the White House “and not enough on the agencies.”
“We have given the White House the ability to set the agenda.”
As to the groupthink, she said “It’s a hothouse environment, no question. I call it a ‘bubble’. We don’t get out in the country enough and talk to people.
“I do think there is a kind of groupthink that sets in,” she continued. “But if everybody else is reporting a story and we don’t…”
Ross asked about the recent defunding of public television and radio, and President Trump’s remarks about “left-wing lunatics.”
“Lumping us in with ‘left-wing lunatics’ is absolutely not true,” said Woodruff.
She said the PBS Newshour is “straight down the middle journalism. It’s in our DNA.”
She said the loss of funding is a problem, and public broadcasting is reacting.
“We are not calling it quits. We are here to serve the American people.”
Ross asked about young journalists who are more familiar with new media such as Tik Tok and podcasts, which are heavy on opinion.
Woodruff said “there’s nothing wrong with having strong feelings but we always need straight factual reporting.”
So when she is asked about what she thinks about a particular issue, Woodruff said her reply is “That’s for others to say. I’m a reporter.”
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Legal Notices - October 2, 2025
Oct 01, 2025
Legal Notice
Notice of Formation of Chocolate and Pines LLC.
Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 07/26/2025.Office location: Dutchess County.
SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to:Natalia Hurley, 108 Old Post Rd N, Apt 2, Red Hook, NY 12571.Purpose: Any lawful purpose.
08-28-25
09-04-25
09-11-25
09-18-25
09-25-25
10-02-25
LEGAL NOTICE OF ESTOPPEL
The bond resolution, a summary of which is published herewith, has been adopted on July 17, 2025, and the validity of the obligations authorized by such resolution may be hereafter contested only if such obligations were authorized for an object or purpose for which the Town of Amenia, Dutchess County, New York, is not authorized to expend money, or if the provisions of law which should have been complied with as of the date of publication of this notice were not substantially complied with, and an action, suit or proceeding contesting such validity is commenced within twenty days after the date of publication of this notice, or such obligations were authorized in violation of the provisions of the Constitution. Such resolution was subject to a permissive referendum. The period of time has elapsed for the submission and filing of a petition for a permissive referendum, and a valid petition has not been submitted and filed.
A complete copy of the resolution summarized herewith is available for public inspection during regular business hours at the Office of the Town Clerk for a period of twenty days from the date of publication of this Notice.
Dated: Amenia, New York,
September 8 2025.
Dawn Marie Klingner
Town Clerk
BOND RESOLUTION DATED JULY 17, 2025.
A RESOLUTION SUPPLEMENTING THE BOND RESOLUTION DATED DECEMBER 5, 2025, TO AUTHORIZE, SUBJECT TO PERMISSIVE REFERENDUM, THE ISSUANCE OF AN ADDITIONAL $3,936,116 BONDS OF THE TOWN OF AMENIA, DUTCHESS COUNTY, NEW
TO PAY A PORTION OF THE COST OF the CONSTRUCTION OF a NEW HIGHWAY GARAGE AND SALT STORAGE SHED, IN AND FOR SAID TOWN.
Class of objects or purposes: Construction of a new highway garage and salt storage shed
Period of probable usefulness: 30 years
Other monies: $1,065,412
Amount of obligations to be issued: Additional $3,936,116 bonds
New maximum estimated cost: $11,334,977
SEQRA: Unlisted Action. Negative Declaration. SEQRA compliance materials on file in the office of the Town Clerk where they may be inspected during regular office hours by appointment.
10-02-25
Legal Notice
Silent Mind Apparel, LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/09/2025. Office location: Dutchess County, NY. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: P.O. Box 593. Purpose: any lawful act.
10-02-25
10-09-25
10-16-25
10-23-25
10-30-25
11-06-25
NOTICE OF FORMATION OF
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY
NAILED BY ALYSSIA LLC has been formed as a limited liability company (LLC) located in Dutchess County, New York by filing Articles of Organization with the New York Secretary of State (NYSS) on July 15, 2025. Alyssia Morton Beliveau is designated as registered agent for the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. Alyssia Morton Beliveau will be mailed any process against it served to 579 Carpenter Hill Road, Pine Plains, NY 12567. The purpose is to engage in any lawful business practice.
09-25-25
10-02-25
10-09-25
10-16-25
10-23-25
10-30-25
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