![Bennett Park demolition begins, 32-acre park to grow](https://millertonnews.com/media-library/left-millbrook-community-partnership-mcp-treasurer-george-whalen-and-mcp-president-oakleigh-thorne-stood-at-the-site-of-the-d.jpg?id=48216401&width=980&quality=90)
Left, Millbrook Community Partnership (MCP) Treasurer George Whalen and MCP President Oakleigh Thorne stood at the site of the demolition taking place at the former Bennett College campus. Plans for a 32-acre park are underway. Photo submitted
MILLBROOK — Long anticipated, the Bennett Park project is finally looking like a reality, as heavy equipment moved through the former Bennett College campus at the end of last week, demolishing the once beautiful buildings constructed in the 1890s.
Grateful residents are breathing a sigh of relief that the deteriorating buildings, which had become dangerous eye sores, are meeting their demise and that the demolition of the property has finally begun. It’s been years of waiting and wondering if it would ever happen.
The main building, Halcyon Hall, was built in 1893 at the corner of routes 343 and 82 at the entrance to the village of Millbrook. The college is lovely, made of wood and stone, but falling apart after years of neglect.
Bennett College moved to Millbrook from its original campus in Irvington, N.Y., where it opened as Bennett School for Girls in 1890.
Bennett College moved to the 22-acre campus at the head of the village in 1907. The all-girls college eventually became a co-ed facility in the mid-1970s, but continued to struggle financially; by 1978 it shut its doors for good.
In a statement issued on Friday, Oct. 1, on behalf of the Millbrook Community Partnership (MCP), Charles Pierce, an MCP board member, spoke about the progress made between the Bennett Park project and the Thorne Building Community Center project — both of which have been undertaken by MCP. Pierce understandably focused on last week’s demolition.
“I feel it’s been a great accomplishment, in part because there were two other major attempts to tackle this project and come up with a solution,” he said. “This has been in large part because we have engaged the community, the town and the village and anyone else interested, asking what they want. We talked to cross sections and got a great deal of information and that has meant popular support.”
The other phase of the project, renovating the Thorne Memorial Building into a multi-purpose community center, has also begun. Asbestos is being removed from the building. That arm of the project is expected to be completed by year’s end.
This is only the start of renovations for the Thorne Building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s stood at the head of Franklin Avenue for the past 125 years, many of those years it functioned as a school. In fact, the donation of the Thorne Building for educational purposes was the reason why the village of Millbrook originally incorporated.
When renovations to the Thorne Building are complete, it will be a light and airy community center, built for all to use. It will house a performing arts center, technology center, gallery and culinary arts center; other ideas have been discussed for the space as well.
Usage for the Thorne Building was discussed at many village meetings; until very recently, the village owned the building. Now, the nonprofit MCP owns it.
“Three or four years ago this was just about the Thorne Building,” Pierce said, “but Oakleigh [Thorne] brought in the Bennett project so the original project has expanded. By the end of this year the asbestos removal, abatement and the demolition should be complete. The two projects taken together are energizing the life of Millbrook and Town of Washington and their citizens. We are determined to inject culture and education into the finished project.”
Pierce added he doesn’t know when the dual projects will be complete but he has total faith when done, they’ll be spectacular. He also thanked the others working on the project, adding Thorne has been instrumental.
“I feel that the leadership Oakleigh Thorne provided, the time and energy he carved out of his busy life and gave to the board and working with us, has brought this to pass.”
The estimated cost of both projects is $20 million. The next phase of the restoration of the Thorne Building will depend on how much money can be raised by its 501(C)3.
Maxon Mills in Wassaic hosted a majority of the events of the local Upstate Art Weekend events in the community.
WASSAIC — Art enthusiasts from all over the country flocked to the Catskill Mountains and Hudson Valley to participate in Upstate Art Weekend, which ran from July 18 to July 21.
The event, which “celebrates the cultural vibrancy of Upstate New York”, included 145 different locations where visitors could enjoy and interact with art.
On Saturday, July 20, The Wassaic Project hosted numerous community events. Will Hutnick, the director of artistic programming, said “We’ve been a part of it since the beginning, this is the fifth year of UPAW.”
Most of the action was based at Maxon Mills, the seven-floor grain mill located in the heart of Wassaic. On exhibit was work from 30 artists, 18 of whom were past residents of The Wassaic Project. “Artists can come and do a residency here, meaning they live and work with one another for a couple months at a time,” Hutnick stated.
The first floor held work by Petra Szilagyi, who uses dirt and linseed oil to construct images of paranormal concepts, most of which include bats. They reflected that a recent trip to a fifth sense competition in Vietnam was the influence behind the exhibit.
Across the floor was Tiffany Smith’s interactive installation which incorporated plants and wicker chairs, all of which were objects associated with her Carribean upbringing. “The room being filled with plants is symbolic of hurricane prep which often included bringing the plants from outside into the house,” Smith said.
As visitors made their way up the narrow wooden stairs, music could be heard from behind the walls. The echoing music was Daniel Shieh’s installation, entitled Mother’s Anthem, which played a recording of the American Anthem in 30 languages. The languages ranged from Spanish and Italian to Navajo and Bengali.
Each floor was filled with artwork of all mediums, including painting, fibers, collage and photography. Rachel Bussières, who switched her concentration after watching the 2017 solar eclipse, uses varying light sources to produce lumen prints. During the wildfires, she recounted that she “made a new exposure each day to capture the changing air quality”.
Luciana Abait also incorporates the natural world into her pieces, instead using maps. An environmental activist originally from Argentina, Abait’s work highlights “environmental fragility, specifically the impacts it has on immigrants.” Her installation that is currently on display at Maxon Mills, takes the form of a mountain range built solely from maps of the US and Argentina.
Throughout the day, visitors could “Arm Wrestle 4 A Popsicle”. Winners had the choice of 3 playfully flavored trout-inspired popsicles - Nightcrawler, Power Bait, and Salmon Roe. Artist Katie Peck, who spent the day in costume as a rainbow trout, encouraged guests to step up and try their hand at an arm wrestle.
Shibori Indigo dyeing, group meditation, and dance workshops were open for community members of all ages as well.
While the daytime activities fostered appreciation of fixed art, a dance party until midnight at The Lantern Inn offered guests a space for performative art.
When describing the environment of The Wassaic Project, Smith emphasized, “It’s all community, it’s all love.”
A serene scene during the Garden Tour in Amenia.
AMENIA — The much-anticipated annual Amenia Garden Tour drew a steady stream of visitors to admire five local gardens on Saturday, July 13, each one demonstrative of what a green thumb can do. An added advantage was the sense of community as neighbors and friends met along the way.
Each garden selected for the tour presented a different garden vibe. Phantom’s Rock, the garden of Wendy Goidel, offered a rocky terrain and a deep rock pool offering peaceful seclusion and anytime swims. Goidel graciously welcomed visitors and answered questions about the breathtaking setting.
Amenia Finance Director Charlie Miller welcomed visitors to his Bog Hollow Road garden in Wassaic, a manicured expansive yard with well-placed garden beds framing a far-reaching view. He said he plans carefully each winter for the next spring’s improvement.
The organic, environmentally responsible Maitri Farm was next, a lesson in coordinating agriculture with natural balance. The farm stand and a walk among the greenhouses brought visitors together.
Near the center of Amenia was the garden of Polly Pitts-Garvin, offering a chance to visit a robust vegetable garden with raised beds to be envious of and a remarkable absence of any insects or usual vegetable garden problems.
At Chez Cheese, the vast garden acreage surrounding the 1850s historic home of Joan Feeney and Bruce Phillips in Millerton, visitors could begin at refreshment stations where walking tour maps of the 15-acre property were available. There were streams and ponds with docks, and a dozen bridges arranged around the landscape. In the 19th-century, the property had been the home of the Wilson Cheese Factory, inspiring the name of the estate.
The Amenia Garden Tour was supported this year by Paley’s Garden Center in Sharon.
Gary Dodson working a tricky pool on the Schoharie Creek, hoping to lure something other than a rock bass from the depths.
PRATTSVILLE, N.Y. — The Schoharie Creek, a fabled Catskill trout stream, has suffered mightily in recent decades.
Between pressure from human development around the busy and popular Hunter Mountain ski area, serious flooding, and the fact that the stream’s east-west configuration means it gets the maximum amount of sunlight, the cool water required for trout habitat is simply not as available as in the old days.
This is not a new phenomenon. It does seem to be getting worse, though.
Gary Dodson and I convened where the creek makes its final run into the Schoharie reservoir, part of the New York City water supply system, on a semi-broiling Thursday afternoon, July 11.
The goal was simple. Catch smallmouth bass, which abound in the lower section of the river.
This was hot stuff — as in an 80-degree water temperature.
The air temperature was actually slightly less at 77.
After negotiating the intensely slippery rocks, festooned with treacherous algae, the first major pool presented several difficulties, with a back eddy competing with a main flow and several large trees draped about the whole thing.
I hit on the simplest strategy, which was to flip a weighted attractor fly called a Tequilley into the start of the eddy so it would proceed slowly but steadily into the maelstrom, sinking all the while.
This worked. A proper adult smallmouth, with bronze coloring and vertical stripes, took the thing.
The point-and-shoot camera finally died, however, and I was not going to try to fumble my phone out for a nice but routine fish photo.
Why not?
Because I guarantee the fish would have made a sudden, last-moment bolt for freedom, causing me to drop the device into the drink.
Gary moved downstream while I continued trying to annoy the residents of the pool, succeeding a couple of times with different colored Wooly Buggers.
Then we all got bored and I moved off, where Gary was catching rock bass and cussing them out for not being something else. I have to admit, they are not the most compelling critters. Something about the red eyes.
This latest trip was dominated by extremely tedious and distasteful Harry Homeowner activities, but on both Wednesday and
Thursday mornings I prowled Woodland Valley Creek. By “morning” I mean “dawn,” because that was when the water temps were down to a barely acceptable 64.
I made the acquaintance of several stocked browns and of a handful of their wild cousins. The wild fish are smaller and nimbler.
The successful ploy was an Adams wet fly, size 16, drifted behind something big, like a Parachute Adams or Stimulator.