MILLERTON — The 250th anniversary of the American Revolution has sparked a renewed interest in the nation’s origins, reflected in a wave of cultural commentary, new books and films like the recently released Ken Burns documentary that examines how the United States began.
While popular historical narratives often glorify famous battlefields and political figures, visitors of the NorthEast-Millerton Library indulged in an exhibit last month that explored how the Revolution unfolded right here in North East among everyday people.
Curated and written by the North East Historical Society — including President Ed Downey and Meg Downey — the exhibit was on view in the library’s main building through November.
“Telling the story of how 250 years ago the American War of Independence affected the people who lived where we live now is very difficult,” the exhibit text began, adding that a devastating 1911 fire destroyed many documents and archives in the New York State Library in Albany. “This disaster incinerated many 18th-century records from Dutchess County.”
At the time of the American Revolution, local boundaries looked very different. Then known as the Northeast Precinct, which was created in 1737, North East was one of 11 precincts in Dutchess County and included what are now the towns of Pine Plains and Milan, along with the northern part of today’s Town of North East. The southern part of today’s town, with a dividing line roughly near North East Center by Downey Road, belonged to the Amenia Precinct. Photo By Aly Morrissey
Although the North East Historical Society is not in possession of any original documents or archives from the period, the exhibit drew on materials from the Dutchess County Historical Society, the History of Little Nine Partners, surviving 1778 meeting minutes discovered at the Huntington Library in California, and archived articles from The Lakeville Journal and The Millerton News, among other sources.
Everyday families felt the Revolution long before news of battles reached them. The exhibit described its impact as a “relentless stream that built up to a flood,” beginning with steep taxes, religious and political division, and eventually the forcible transfer of land and property. As local men left for battle, women managed farms and raised children alone, navigating fear, scarcity and a community split between Patriots and Loyalists.
A shadow government takes over North East
The miraculous discovery of 1778 meeting minutes from the “Committee on Safety” depicts a group of Patriots who became the de facto local government for what was then known as the Northeast Precinct, an area including the present-day towns of North East, Pine Plains and Milan.
Photographs of the meeting minutes were on display in the exhibit. The document was found in the Huntington Library of California and includes 64 clear, handwritten pages that span 17 meetings. The committee met regularly at the house of James Young in what is now Pine Plains.
“While the meetings begin in calm deliberation, grappling with problems in a seemingly orderly way, toward the end of the record book the pace becomes frenetic,” the introduction notes. The tone of the minutes become “increasingly filled with alarm” and civil unrest, and the meeting frequency increases “almost overnight.”
The committee’s work included collecting food for those in need, handling complaints such as unlicensed liquor sales, and arranging to deport families of Loyalists across enemy lines.
One prominent committee member was Samuel Eggleston IV, who lived in what is now the Town of North East. The exhibit showed his role in collecting and returning grain to support Continental troops. He is buried in Spencer’s Corners Cemetery just north of Millerton.
Local iron ore supported the Patriots
Although the region was “too sparsely settled and too dense with forests to be where armies would travel or territory worth capturing,” it had one critical resource that supported the American cause.
Pits of iron ore in nearby Ancram and surrounding areas helped “feed the blast furnace” in what is now Lakeville, Connecticut, and eventually supported the manufacturing of weaponry, including cannon and musket balls. “The Salisbury Association estimates that the approximately 850 cannons produced represented about three quarters of those made in the colonies,” the exhibit stated.
Places, faces and names
The exhibit was rich with stories, documents and local names — many of which are still recognizable in this region today. Visitors could view the full list of residents who signed, and those who refused to sign, the Patriot pledge — a commitment to reject British authority.
“Signing it would be a death warrant if their cause failed,” the exhibit noted. “But to refuse to sign could engender the hate and distrust of their fellow citizens.” Loyalty in the old Northeast Precinct was far from unanimous, with residents split over which side to support. 298 men signed while 146 declined.
Additionally, photos of local soldiers’ gravestones, records of supply collections and stories passed down through generations painted a picture of how the war shaped daily life in the region.
Heavy stone garden ornaments, a specialty of Judy Milne Antiques from Kingston, at Trade Secrets 2025.
Van Ginhoven points to towers of boxes containing event programs, various ribbons, elegant decor and stacks of magazines, all in preparation for the event.
Project SAGE will celebrate its 26th year hosting Trade Secrets, but it’s so much more than a garden event.
“It’s a fundraiser for domestic violence prevention and intervention,” van Ginhoven said. “Anybody who attends knows they’re supporting a really meaningful and important cause.”
The fundraiser accounts for at least 30 percent of the organization’s overall budget, she said, and attracts around 3,000 people from across the region each year, creating an unmatched opportunity for Project SAGE to share its mission and generate support.
The event, though expensive to produce, generates enough income to significantly support Project SAGE’s direct services and prevention services.
Officials said a wave of new underwriters have emerged this year.
“We’re very grateful, because we live in a time when funding is uncertain,” van Ginhoven said.
Hundreds of copies of the annual Trade Secrets guide sat at Project SAGE headquarters, ready for distribution at the event. The book doubles as a domestic violence resource, complete with warning signs, myth-busting information and scripts for difficult conversations.
Volunteers will be present throughout the event to connect with community members. Each volunteer must be certified as a domestic violence counselor in order to work with Project SAGE.
“It means they can help us drive clients, move clients, take them to appointments or the grocery store,” van Ginhoven said.
Project SAGE officials said education about domestic violence should start early. The organization has developed a comprehensive curriculum spanning early childhood through grade 12 and visits schools throughout the region. The class of 2026 will be the first graduating class at Housatonic Valley Regional High School to have received all four years of training from Project SAGE.
Martha Stewart signing her new book at Trade Secrets 2025.Christine Bates
The organization’s partnerships extend throughout the region and include on-site training in schools and nonprofit organizations, including the Sharon Playhouse. Community support also goes directly to Project SAGE, including a recently donated array of colorful gift bags bearing positing affirmations and filled with toiletries and basic necessities from students at the Frederick Gunn School in Washington, Connecticut.
The people who visit Project SAGE have often left uncomfortable or dangerous situations and leave without any belongings.
“Some of them have nothing,” van Ginhoven said. “They just show up because they had the courage to leave.”
Project SAGE staff say many referrals come through local hospitals, police and sister agencies.
The organization serves people in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York.
With the stress of event planning mounting, van Ginhoven spent a “previous life” preparing for this exact moment. She spent 30 working at the intersection of arts and activism, having co-founded WAM Theatre, a Lenox-based organization focused on stories and issues affecting those who self-identify as women and girls. During her tenure, WAM donated $100,000 to 25 local and global organizations working toward gender equity in areas such as girls’ education, teen pregnancy prevention, gender-based violence, sexual trafficking awareness and midwife training.
“I love the adrenaline of putting on a show,” van Ginhoven said with a laugh. With the help of volunteers and organizers, she said she isn’t bothered by the stress.
“The show will go on,” she said.
Caroline Kinsolving and Gary Capozzielo at home in Salisbury with their dogs, Petruchio and Beatrice
“We met during the pandemic, a bleak time,” Kinsolving said. “On our first date, we met at The Hickory Stick Bookshop and walked outside six feet apart. We fell in love.”
They lived in a tiny studio near Averill Farm in Washington, Connecticut.
“He played his violin, I worked on my lines, we walked the dog, and suddenly we were circling each other perfectly,” Capozziello said with a laugh. “When I told her I was a violinist, she mentioned ‘Appalachian Spring’ by Aaron Copland. I sent her a recording of me playing it, and it became our song.”
“For our wedding, we wanted all our friends and family out in the field listening to that music,” Kinsolving said. Capozziello’s friends from Orchestra New England performed the piece at their wedding.
“Circus Fire,” written by Connecticut’s own Jacques Lamarre and directed by Jared Mezzocchi, is a multimedia world-premiere tribute to the Hartford Circus Fire. On July 6, 1944, the big top of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus caught fire, killing 167 and injuring 700 in Connecticut’s worst fire disaster.
Capozziello, who grew up in Fairfield, began: “I came from very limited means, though my parents gave me the kind of support that mattered most. I had a hard time in school. My music teachers, noticing my knack for music, kept me in school.” As he became a teenager, he realized how demanding classical violin truly is. “I had the honor of playing in a master class for Isaac Stern when I was 18,” he said. “That was the wake-up call. He was relentless with my intonation, telling me I must ‘feel the fire in my belly.’”
At SUNY Purchase, he “met a wonderful violin teacher who taught me to play, study and practice five hours a day.” After studying at the New England Conservatory, Capozziello earned his doctorate from The Hartt School in 2018. He now teaches at The Hotchkiss School and performs with the Hartford Symphony.
He explained that his role as assistant concertmaster is the direct line between conductor and musicians, and that the orchestra is “a family dynamic, a democratic unit, truly a living, breathing organism.”
Caroline Kinsolving and Gary Capozzielo Jennifer Almquist
On May 2, Capozziello was soloist with Orchestra New England, performing the world premiere of Neely Bruce’s “Concerto for Violin,” along with “The River” by Jan Swafford and Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” at Battell Chapel at Yale.
“I care about bringing classical music into communities and spaces where people may not expect it,” said Capozziello.“Music is most powerful to me when it feels alive, humanand accessible, not distant or formal.”
For 20 years, Kinsolving has acted in film, television and theater in London, New York and Los Angeles. “I was first onstage at Washington Montessori School playing Peter Pan,” she said. “I improvised a line, got a laugh and liked the feeling.”
She enjoys performing Shakespeare. “I love Titania’s monologue because it speaks to our current climate crisis. Lady Macbeth surprised me. I fell in love with her while I was doing it. I could play those scenes forever; so much range and depth to explore,” she said.
Kinsolving added, “I love Shakespeare’s comedies for the fun and rhythm. I have loved Rosalind, Viola, Olivia, Helena and Kate, yet the top of my bucket list is Beatrice. Each character reflects a shade of my soul. Shakespeare had the brilliance to illuminate them. If I ever get a tattoo, it will be a list of their names.”
Kinsolving, whose parents, poet Susan Kinsolving and author William Kinsolving, live in Lakeville, studied at Milton Academy, universities in China, and Vassar College. Her theater training includes Stella Adler Studio of Acting, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, Yale Drama Intensive and she is currently studying online through Juilliard.. She founded Theatre for Good, which donates its proceeds to charity.
Both artists are looking forward to June, when they will have more time to spend with their dogs.
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