MILLBROOK — Caroline Hernandez Pidala was named superintendent of the Millbrook Central School District (MCSD) by its board of education on Tuesday, April 25. Hernandez Pidala has been the district’s interim superintendent since summer 2022, and as the board noted in its announcement, “…has had a significant impact on the district since she took the helm this past summer.”
Coming to Millbrook from the Arlington School District in 2015 to be the Millbrook High School principal, she was made assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction/pupil personnel services in 2018. She then rose, in 2021, to be named deputy superintendent of schools.
About her appointment, Hernandez Pidala said: “I feel extremely blessed and lucky to work within this community. The students are awesome, the faculty and staff are top-notch and the parents and taxpayers are so supportive. We have a team of administrators that are like-minded in keeping students first in our decisions and maximizing our efforts in the way that best impacts students.
“Our board of education is truly student-centered and supports the strategic vision that has been developed, and I feel like we are one large team rowing in the right direction. I couldn’t really ask for more.”
The feelings between the board and the superintendent tend to be mutually respectful, as the board also related in its announcement: “The 2023-2024 fiscal budget, created by Ms. Hernandez Pidala and the District’s leadership team, has the lowest administrative component and the highest program component of any budget over the past five years. She has also began restructuring for long-time sustainability. With her guidance, the MCSD has completed a five-year strategic plan, inclusive of key stakeholders and components of groups of varied interests.”
In the years since Hernandez Pidala came to Millbrook, much has changed: She has worked with two different superintendents and two assistant superintendents; school principals have changed in some cases; and even the board of education has changed some of its members.
The district also suffered, along with the rest of the world, the effects of COVID-19, with students going to remote learning, even graduations being done via the internet, and the athletics so prevalent in this school district being brought to a halt in some cases.
Most schools are still coming back from those years. In addressing this, Hernandez Pidala had this to say: “We are focusing on the social-emotional growth and development of our students and working to close the gap in learning left in the wake of a global pandemic. We are also trying to engage families and have them be true partners in educating the next generation of leaders, workers and thinkers. The district aims to create sustainable practices so that we can benefit from our efforts in perpetuity.
“Over the past eight years, Millbrook has come to feel like home,” she said, adding, “I love the community and I am fortunate to say I love my job. Not everyone gets to say that.”
Built in 1820, 1168 Bangall Amenia Road sold for $875,000 on July 31 with the transfer recorded in August. It has a Millbrook post office and is located in the Webutuck school district.
STANFORD — The Town of Stanford with nine transfers in two months reached a median price in August of $573,000 for single family homes, still below Stanford’s all-time median high in August 2024 of $640,000.
At the beginning of October there is a large inventory of single-family homes listed for sale with only six of the 18 homes listed for below the median price of $573,000 and seven above $1 million.
July transfers
79 Ernest Road — 4 bedroom/2.5 bath home on 6.87 acres in 2 parcels sold to Matthew C. Marinetti for $1,225,000.
29 Drake Road — 3 bedroom/3.5 bath home on 2 acres sold to Harper Montgomery for $850,000.
6042 Route 82 — 4 bedroom/2 bath home on 1.09 acres sold to Spencer Thompson for $795,000.
125 Tick Tock Way — 3 bedroom/2.5 bath ranch on 1.9 acres sold to Fleur Touchard for $475,000.
August transfers
102 Prospect Hill Road — 3 bedroom/2 bath home on 6.35 acres sold to Karl Creighton Pfister for $565,000.
252 Ernest Road — 2 bedroom/1 bath cottage on .85 acres sold to Meg Bumie for $465,000.
1196 Bangall Amenia Road — 4 bedroom/2.5 bath home on 2.16 acres sold to Roderick Alleyne for $875,000.
Hunns Lake Road (#759929) — 59.1 acres of residential land sold to Argos Farm LLC for $3,325,000.
* Town of Stanford recorded real estate transfers from July 1 to August 31 provided by Dutchess County Real Property Office monthly transfer reports. Details on each property from Dutchess Parcel Access - properties with an # indicate location on Dutchess Parcel Access. Market data from One Key MLS and Infosparks .Compiled by Christine Bates, Real Estate Advisor with William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, Licensed in Connecticut and New York.
Hunt club members and friends gathered near Pugsley Hill at the historic Wethersfield Estate and Gardens in Amenia for the opening meet of the 2025-2026 Millbrook Hunt Club season on Saturday, Oct. 4. Foxhunters took off from Wethersfield’s hilltop gardens just after 8 a.m. for a hunting jaunt around Amenia’s countryside.
Joining in the fun at the dedication of the new pollinator pathway garden at The Millbrook Library on Saturday, Oct. 4, local expert gardener Maryanne Snow Pitts provides information about a planting to Lorraine Mirabella of Poughkeepsie.
MILLBROOK — Participating in a patchwork of libraries that have planted pollinator pathway gardens to attract insects and birds to their native plantings was one of the accomplishments being celebrated at the dedication of a new pollinator garden at the Millbrook Library on Saturday, Oct. 4.
“A lot of work went into it,” said Emma Sweeney, past President of the Millbrook Garden Club, who started the local library’s initiative two years ago.
The Pollinator Pathway program is a national effort to plant native plants that native insects depend upon for sustenance and preferred plants for their own seasonal reproduction.
Jana Hogan of Ridgefield, Connecticut, Executive Director of the Pollinator Pathway program, was on hand to present a plaque to the library for its successful participation.
“A garden is not just a garden,” said garden designer Andy Durbridge of Wassaic, designer of the library’s garden. “It may serve as a model for other gardens along the line.”
Speaking to the 50 visitors at the dedication, Durbridge said that the library’s garden has a mission, that it is a working garden, planned to serve insects and birds over their seasons. The earliest plants support pollinators, while the full range of plants continues to serve the needs of those they attract, offering habitat, shelter and food.
A pollinator garden is akin to a prairie, rather than a formalized European garden, Durbridge noted.
The garden project was supported by the library’s Friends group using funds raised during the Holiday Silent Auction and ongoing book sale. A grant from the Millbrook Garden Club also provided support.
Smithfield Church
AMENIA — Fans of the smooth sounds and rhythms of Brazilian Jazz will enjoy “Rio Jazz: Intimate Brazilian Jazz,” a concert at The Smithfield Church on Saturday, Oct. 11, beginning at 3 p.m.
The concert is one of the acclaimed Bang Family Concerts, an ongoing series offering an eclectic range of performances by regional artists. The historic 19th-century church sanctuary offers perfect acoustics, thanks to its dimensions as a classic Greek square.
Assembled in 1988, Rio Jazz is led by Matt Finley, a pioneer in Brazilian jazz, who has brought together a combo of world-class performers for an hour of live music including a sampling of his own compositions. The Brazilian genre began in 1963, with the rise of the bossa nova and its growth in popularity in the U.S.
Members of the combo performing live are pianist Larry Ham, double bassist Lou Pappas, and drummer Jeff Siegel. Guitarist Jeff Ciampa from Orange County is playing for the Smithfield audience for the first time. And vocalist Denise Jordan Finley will join her husband in performing a collaborative composition.
The Smithfield Church is located at 656 Smithfield Valley Road in Amenia. A suggested donation of $20 will support future Bang Family concerts. A meet-the-artists reception will follow the concert. For more information, go to www.thesmithfieldchurch.org/concerts.
