COPAKE FALLS — As most know, art comes in many forms. And many are also aware that religion is the mainstay of communities around the world.
History has a way of telling the stories of both, and how the two are often intertwined. The Roeliff Jansen Historical Society is currently offering local residents and those who may be visiting the region a chance to learn the tale of both vital elements in an exhibit at their museum in Copake Falls.
“Revived in Wood” is a look at Greek and Gothic Revival churches throughout the Harlem Valley. The multi-media presentation is beautifully done, and fittingly enough, the museum was formerly a country church, much beloved by those who worshipped there.
In a booklet for the exhibit, it states that there are 17 19th-century churches in the Roe Jan area devoted to the Greek or Gothic styles, all constructed of wood and of various denominations.
The exhibit will run through October. The show features the two styles that are representative of divergent world views.
Greek Revival boasts symmetrical solidity, a manifestation of a new, growing Republic.
Gothic is reminiscent of more earthly, organic and natural form.
No matter the style, each represents a means of refuge, of gathering together and partaking in worship, the building of soul and strength.
The exhibit focuses on creations of beauty, constructed of wood, as well as the tools that created those articles.
The wooden handles of the tools are mostly shiny and smooth, made so by endless years of toil and labor. The tools are often works of art themselves.
Photos of the churches are on display, five are from area towns.
Recently added to the collection is St. Bridget’s Catholic Church in Copake Falls. No longer standing, but preserved through photos, St. Bridget’s was a wooden Gothic Revival church. It was built in 1926, the latest built in this collection of churches.
The earliest church built in the group is the Reform Protestant Dutch Church in Gallatin, built in 1824; it remains standing at 325 Doodletown Road.
The Roeliff Jansen Historical Society meets in Copake Falls, at the old church built in 1952 that was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
Some of the details worth checking out in this exhibit include the altar, with accompanying relics and artifacts.
One can also rest on two long wooden benches, laid back to back down the center of the former church.
Some of the woodworking tools on display may be familiar, others not so much, all are from another time and place.
There are a great many photos of the different churches on its walls and in its display cases.
One large painting hangs over the altar; also on the altar is a television showing a documentary of woodworking methods.
There’s also an old tripod camera, the type that required the photographer to drape a black cloth over his head and shoulders.
The Historical Society has done a fine job of amassing memorabilia from the many local churches and sharing an incredible amount of information about their edifices.
Some of the architects who built the houses of worship were quite famous, for instance Richard Upjohn, who designed the Church of St. John the Divine in the Wilderness in Copake Falls in 1852 in the Gothic Revival style. Still standing, that church was restored in 1949 after suffering from long periods of closure.
Regular services have been conducted there since it was reopened and often the church holds concerts these days.
The Roeliff Jansen Historical Society’s Museum is located at 8 Miles Road, Copake Falls, and is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 2 to 4 p.m.
There are books and other items for sale, and there is much to examine and enjoy. One can learn about the religion, art, woodworking and mores of a society long gone in the current exhibition.
Donations are welcome, but admission is free and there is always someone present who can discuss the exhibit and answer questions. For more information, call 518-329-0652.
NORTH EAST — Habitat for Humanity of Dutchess County will conduct a presentation on Thursday, May 9 on buying a three-bedroom affordable home to be built in the Town of North East.
The presentation will be held at the NorthEast-Millerton Library Annex at 5:30 p.m.
Any first-time home buyer interested should attend the information session.
The application for this pilot program home-buying opportunity must be made between May 1 and June 10.Minimum household income for the pilot program is $55,000 while maximum income is determined by family size.
Applications are available at the North East Town Hall.Habitat for Humanity describes itself as a nonprofit with global reach, working across the United States and in approximately 70 countries.
‘Migration Collage' by ransome
If you claim a single sobriquet as your artistic moniker, you’re already in a club with some big names, from Zendaya to Beyoncé to the mysterious Banksy. At Geary, the contemporary art gallery in Millerton founded by New Yorkers Jack Geary and Dolly Bross Geary, a new installation and painting exhibition titled “The Bitter and the Sweet” showcases the work of the artist known only as ransome — all lowercase, like the nom de plume of the late Black American social critic bell hooks.
Currently based in Rhinebeck, N.Y., ransome’s work looks farther South and farther back — to The Great Migration, when Jim Crow laws, racial segregation, and the public violence of lynching paved the way for over six million Black Americans to seek haven in northern cities, particularly New York urban areas, like Brooklyn and Baltimore. The Great Migration took place from the turn of the 20th century up through the 1970s, and ransome’s own life is a reflection of the final wave — born in North Carolina, he found a new home in his youth in New Jersey.
‘Square Quilting painting' by ransomeAlexander Wilburn
Map fragments of North Carolina feature heavily in a large collection of eight-by-eight collage and acrylic paintings, sold individually but together mounted on Geary’s wall resembling the stitched patterns on quilts, like the quilts by the late Black American artist Arlonzia Pettway. Along with artists like Annie Mae Young and Mary Lee Bendolph, Pettway was a renowned artist associated with the quilts of Gee’s Bend, generations of women in the town of Gee’s Bend, Alabama who preserved African American culture in beautiful and vibrant textile art with bold combinations of stripes, textures and colors. The influence is also wonderfully clear in ransome large-scale collages and acrylic paintings like “Square Quilt painting” on display at Geary. It’s a powerful symbol of Gee’s Bend’s legacy continuing on, even under a new artistic medium.
In the smaller works, called “Migration Collages,” painted portraits are combined with pieces of floral and pastel paper, evocative of the tradition of “Sunday Best” splendor worn in Black churches in the South. “The women elders at my Baptist church often greeted each other that way on Sunday mornings when one hat was more elaborate, colorful, or wider brimmed than another,” New York Times veteran Lena Williams wrote in her 1996 essay, “In Defense of the Church Hat.” “It was traditional to put on one’s newest finery for church, and in many historically black churches, the wearing of fancy hats by women carried both spiritual and cultural significance.”
“The Bitter and the Sweet” is on view at Geary through Sunday, June 2.
Hospitality, ease of living and just plain fun are rolled into one for those who are intrigued by the leisure-time Caravana experience at the family-owned Four Brothers Drive-in in Amenia. Tom Stefanopoulos, pictured above, highlights fun possibilities offered by Hotel Caravana.
The month-long process of unwrapping and preparing the various features at the Four Brothers Drive-In is nearing completion, and the imaginative recreational destination will be ready to open for the season on Friday, May 10.
The drive-in theater is already open, as is the Snack Shack, and the rest of the recreational features are activating one by one, soon to be offering maximum fun for the whole family.
Tom Stefanopoulos, the second generation helping to guide the Stefanopoulos family’s recreational complex, brings a deep understanding of hospitality and business sense in support of the multi-faceted enterprise, begun in the 1970s, that is now a mainstay of the town of Amenia, located on a corner in the heart of the commercial district. He paused for an interview on Friday, April 26.
Two luxury camping trailers, each with an attached wooden deck and fire pit, make up Hotel Caravana, and each offers a different fun vibe, Stefanopoulos explained. The larger of the two, offers a California lifestyle, retro to 1967, although its modern where it should be. It can sleep four.
The smaller Caravana sleeps two and offers a lifestyle of the future dating to about 2041. It’s a brand-new Airstream, Stefanopoulos noted. It also has an attached deck with firepit.
“We get a lot of New York City people,” Stefanopoulos said when asked what sorts of people are apt to be attracted to Hotel Caravana. “They want to experience the upstate life,” he added. The idea of sitting out on the deck while watching an actual drive-in movie appeals to them, as does room service offered by the restaurant.
The lobster rolls prepared by the Snack Shack, are served on brioche hot dog rolls, either Maine-style or Connecticut-style, and the lobster can be topped with caviar. Four Brothers version is praised by customers for the generous portion of lobster in each, and the price is competitive.
Caravana guests may book for a single night, or maybe two, or even longer, taking advantage of the bicycles to pedal along the nearby rail trail, a local amenity, Stefanopoulos noted.
“We make our guests feel like movie stars,” Stefanopoulos said of the hospitality. And, if they like miniature golf, it is just a few steps away from their Caravana deck.
Asked how and why the Caravana idea began, Stefanopoulos recalled that as the drive-in theater grew in popularity, people were traveling from greater distances away. The last film of the night might start at midnight, he said, so the idea grew that Four Brothers might be able to offer an accommodation to stay the night.
In addition to Caravana, Four Brothers offers an alternative of two or three tent camping sites.
Future plans may include a third Caravana, Stefanopoulos said. Also, there is a giant mastodon skeleton, presently in storage, that should be on display, he said.
“It’s pretty big,” Stefanopoulos added.
The playground might be enlarged in the coming seasons, and perhaps an old-fashioned arcade added for retro amusement.
The community that surrounds Four Brothers remains important to the Stefanopoulos family as they offer substantial summer employment opportunity. Stefanopoulos said that a goal is to contract locally for business needs, such as musical entertainment and advertising. The drive-in also schedules occasion fundraisers to benefit local organizations, including the Amenia Fire Company and area schools.
