![Redrawing the lines in Northern Dutchess: The making of North East](https://millertonnews.com/media-library/an-1867-map-of-the-town-of-north-east-the-boundaries-of-north-east-changed-drastically-in-1823-after-pine-plains-left-to-form-i.jpg?id=51643038&width=1200&height=1823)
An 1867 map of the town of North East. The boundaries of North East changed drastically in 1823 after Pine Plains left to form its own town.
Courtesy North East Historical Society
An 1867 map of the town of North East. The boundaries of North East changed drastically in 1823 after Pine Plains left to form its own town.
MILLERTON — In a November lecture at the NorthEast-Millerton Library Annex, William Tatum III, emeritus of the Dutchess County Historical Society, described how the map lines of the Town of North East were drawn, redrawn, and redrawn again.
“2023 is a big year for Dutchess because it is the 200th anniversary of a major change,” began Tatum. “It is the 200th anniversary of Pine Plains being established as an independent town.”
Tatum said he likes to give the “other side of the story. What about the old town? What about communities from which these new towns came?”
He gave a timeline:
— In 1683, Dutchess County was established as a “paper entity.” It was one of New York’s original 12 counties, 10 of which survive. Two were “bartered away” said Tatum, to get another territory in 1731.
— 1737: North East is established as a precinct.
— 1788: North East is incorporated as a town.
— 1818: Milan splits from North East.
— 1823: Pine Plains becomes an independent town.
Precincts — a Colonial term used instead of “towns”— were formed in New York when a group of partners “formed a patent,” and then would seek out Indigenous tribal leaders to “buy” land from them.
Tatum said they would buy “a vaguely defined amount” of land. He gave an example of how what would become Rumbout (Rombout) was purchased: from the top of Mount Beacon, the partners declared, “We are purchasing all that we can see.”
After the purchase, this patent would have to be approved. First, the paperwork was sent to Manhattan, where it was looked over and approved or rejected by authorities there.
If approved, it went on to London (a six-week to three-month trip depending on “the time of year and prevailing winds”), where it needed approval from the Board of Trade.
Then it would go to the crown, where it needed to approved by the king’s ministers, and then finally to the king or queen.
If approved, it then went through all these steps in reverse, until it got back to the Colonies, where the land claimed in the patent became a precinct.
In 1706, eight investors plus one silent partner, all men “well placed and influential” in society, formed Little Nine Partners Patent for the area of North East; their patent was officially approved by Queen Anne in 1708.
In 1731, “The Oblong” was added to the territory by the Treaty of Dover. This is when two counties were “bartered” to Connecticut for the Oblong, and North East gained its panhandle.
In 1744, after 40 years, the Little Nine Partners Patent (consisting of Dutchess County) was finally divided into seven precincts (South, Rumbout, Beekman, Poughkeepsie, Crum Elbow, Rhinebeck and North East). “Lots were assigned by lottery with two young boys under the age of 16 drawing the assignments” said Tatum. “I like to imagine it was out of a hat, but out of some kind of container.”
Once the patent was divided, it could be sold or rented to the colonists.
To form a new town, colonists had to advocate with petitions and letters to the State Assembly, so that the state would pass a law establishing a town.
Milan split from North East in 1818 to form a new town, and North East lost one-third of its territory. Due to a fire at the state capital in 1911, many of the records of how and why Milan split from North East were lost.
Then in 1823, Pine Plains decided to form an independent town. This was a problem since it left North East with “a whole new series of boundaries, because to keep that community viable, you had to take roughly the northern third of Amenia,” said Tatum.
Tatum added, “And some people are still not OK with that secession of territory from one town to the next.”
Tatum continued, “To divide town A and B was somewhat simpler” but what “North East of 1823 faced was as complicated as it could be.”
The center of North East’s government had to be moved from its seat in what had become Pine Plains. Accounts and paperwork had to be divided between North East and Pine Plains, and then this had to be done again with the new territory gained from Amenia. New officials had to be appointed and elected.
After 1823, “Little was left of the old North East” and it had a “brand new civic identity,” concluded Tatum.
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.