
Ownership of this Victorian home in need of a new roof on 9 Depot Hill in Amenia was transferred to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage for $347,084.
Photo by Christine Bates
Ownership of this Victorian home in need of a new roof on 9 Depot Hill in Amenia was transferred to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage for $347,084.
AMENIA — In January, five properties over a million dollars and five under $350,000 were transferred with nothing in between. Silo Ridge accounted for three of the million dollar sales, each with less than half an acre of land, while the other two million dollar-plus sales had extensive acreage.
Looking at the 17 homes actively listed on the first day of spring the same bifurcation of the market is clear. Four homes are for sale over $3 million - only one of them is located in Silo Ridge. (Note that Silo Ridge properties are infrequently listed for sale on multiple listing services and actual sales only appear in reported transfer recordings. Condos, land and estates are listed for sale on their website.) At the same time five homes are available in Amenia and Wassaic for less than $400,000. Pending sales show a similar dynamic with five modestly priced homes with a median price of $249,00 and two over a million houses heading toward closing.
Bog Hollow Road (#306730) — 16.65 acres of vacant farm land sold to Wetland Trust Inc. for $300,000
230 Amenia Union Road — 66.11 agricultural field crop land sold to Kevin Bacon Trustee for $1.35 million.
96 Tinker Town Road — 3 bedroom/2 bath house sold to Joshua Lattrell for $275,000.
48 Roundabout Way — 4 bedroom/4.5 bathroom town house within Silo Ridge sold to David Koslovsky for $4.6 million.
29 West Amenia Road — 2 bedroom/1.5 bath ranch on .2 acres sold to Donald Valyou for $275,000.
9 Depot Hill Road — 2 bedroom/3 bath home transferred to Federal Home Loan Mortgage for $347,084.
41 Flanagan Hill Road — 3 bedroom/2.5 bath home on 49.08 acres sold to Eliza M. Dyson for $2.8 million.
Red Tail Pass (#671592) — 0.4 acres of residential land within Silo Ridge sold to Silo Ridge E15 LLC for $2.7 million.
320 Wood Duck Road — .41 acres of residential land within Silo Ridge sold to Dawn Hu for $2.2 million.
Midway Avenue (#416355) — 0.27 acres of land sold to Michael O’Connell for $37,500.
*Town of Amenia real estate transfers as recorded between Jan. 1, 2025, and Jan. 31, 2025, are sourced from Dutchess County Real Property Tax Service Agency. Information on active listings taken from First Key MLS. Parcel numbers refer to parcel designation by Dutchess County and may be accessed on Dutchess Parcel Access. Only transfers with consideration are included. Compiled by Christine Bates, Real Estate Advisor with William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, Licensed in Connecticut and New York.
Millerton and North East residents Arthur Moshlak, left, Tilly Strauss, second from left, Lenny Sutton, second from right, and Kathy Chow, right, met for the first time at the community talk while Dutchess Commission on Human Rights Executive Director Jody Miller, center, took notes on their conversation at the NorthEast-Millerton Library Annex on Wednesday, April 30. The newly acquainted group talked about accessible infrastructure, community organizing and events, local quality of life, and inclusive recreation opportunities.
MILLERTON — Residents of North East and Millerton gathered to talk about their desires for the future at the NorthEast-Millerton Library Annex.
The North East Community Center, the Dutchess Commission on Human Rights and the NorthEast-Millerton Library organized the group conversation that brought a crowd of 20 to the annex Wednesday night, April 30. There will be a second event at the North East Community Center on South Center Street on Saturday, May 3, from 3 to 4:30 p.m.
The attending residents shuffled to pair off with someone they didn’t know before and talked about positive experiences in the town and the village, what they would change if they could wave a magic wand and make it so, what the village and the town needs and how individuals and organizations can achieve those goals.
NorthEast-Millerton Library Director Rhiannon Leo-Jameson said the group talk Wednesday marks the return of a community conversation series that first started with a talk at the annex in 2021.
Arthur Moshlak, left, of Millerton and North East Town Clerk Tilly Strauss, right, voiced concerns over building accessibility and transportation in the town and the village, two issues they agreed impact quality of life in the area, at a community conversation hosted by NECC and the Dutchess Commission on Human Rights at the NorthEast-Millerton Library Annex on Wednesday, April 30. There will be another group conversation at the NECC building on South Center Street on Saturday, May 3 starting at 3 p.m.Photo by Nathan Miller
Representatives of the human rights commission, North East Community Center and the North-East Millerton Library collected notes on the conversations. Those notes will be collected, kept on record and distributed to town leadership, Leo-Jameson said, just like in 2021 after the first community talk.
Topics of conversation ranged from a desire of more robust and inclusive town wide events, more utilization of Eddie Collins Memorial Park for recreational programming, renewed focus on accessibility and infrastructure, and disappointment over sewer and wastewater treatment progress.
Olivia Wickwire, no. 2, tags out a runner at first base. The Webutuck Warriors varsity softball team beat the Germantown Clippers 14-7 at home Friday, April 25.
AMENIA — Webutuck girls varsity softball beat visiting Germantown 14-7 Friday, April 25.
Yelling from the dugout is apparently just as important to the game as throwing. Webutuck players cheered and shouted at their teammates on the field the whole afternoon. Photo by Nathan Miller
The game started off with an early lead from Germantown. The Clippers scored three runs in the first inning.
The Warriors responded in kind with a run of their own in the bottom of the first. The real magic started to come in the second inning, when Webutuck held Germantown with no runs and managed to rack up five in the bottom, brining the score to 6-1 at by the end of the second inning.
Abby Keefer, no. 8, waits at third base for an opportunity to run to home plate. Photo by Nathan Miller
On the mound, Webutuck pitcher Madison Kruger, no. 10, showed great skill dispensing of batters. Kruger struck out 16 batters through the game.
In the fifth inning, Germantown’s batters managed three more runs, spurring the Warriors back into action in the batters box. Webutuck responded with six more runs in the bottom of the fifth.
Germantown managed another run in the sixth, but Webutuck scored two more, brining the score to 14-7 going into the top of the seventh.
Webutuck Warriors pitcher Madison Kruger, no. 10, racked up 16 strikeouts during the game.Photo by Nathan Miller
A few hundred feet away the varsity baseball squad played against the boys from Germantown.
The Warriors won that matchup 4-3 after a tie-breaking run in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Webutuck pitcher Troy Brazee led in strikeouts with six. Zach Latrell had two and Pearse Williams had one.
Tim Middlebrook, President of the Columbia Mid-Hudson Valley chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, left, Amenia Town Supervisor Leo Blackman, center, and Amenia Historical Society President Betsy Strauss unveiled a new historical marker at the Old Amenia Burying Ground on Saturday, April 26. The marker commemorates revolutionary war veterans buried at the cemetery where the Red Meeting House once stood on Mygatt Road.
AMENIA — Tim Middlebrook of the Sons of the American Revolution and Amenia Historical Society President Betsy Strauss unveiled a new historical marker honoring Revolutionary War vets in the Amenia Burying Ground.
Rain all morning had threatened the event, but historical society members, lovers of history and sons of the revolution persisted and the rain let up just in time.
The gathering at the old burying ground on Saturday, April 26, began with Middlebrook, president of the Columbia Mid-Hudson Valley chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, talking about the process of acquiring the sign from the Pomeroy foundation. He thanked the Burke family, longtime neighbors of the burying ground, for the work they and their father, Bill Burke, had done with the cemetery.
Bill’s son, Stephen, said he and his father spent a lot of time mapping and cleaning the burying ground. “Putting the stones back up,” he said. “Putting them back up again.”
Stephen said his father had completed a map of the burying ground with the identifiable plots. That was part of Bill Burke and Betsy Strauss’s work with the historical society to find revolutionary war veterans and attain historical recognition for the cemetery.
“It’s pretty impressive, it’s all this poster board that he put together,” Stephen said. “When I first saw it I said ‘wow.’ Then my sister Karen said ‘Oh we’eve already translated all that and into this.’ I thought I had found a hidden gem.”
Tim Middlebrook of the Sons of the American Revolution and Amenia Historical Society President Betsy Strauss told the crowd of neighbors and historical society members about the centuries-long history of the Old Amenia Burying Ground and listed the names of the known Revolutionary War veterans in the cemetery. Photo by Nathan Miller
After Middlebrook’s remarks, the crowd moved into the burying ground for snacks and mingling, where the graves of revolutionary war veterans had been marked with American flags.
Betsy Strauss had lists of the names for visitors:
Col. William Barker
1740-1820
Daniel Bartlett
1755-1837
John Bates
1756-1801
Maj. Simeon Cook
1726-1811
Maj. Robert Freeman
1727-1798
John Garnsey
1734-1799
Robert Hebard
1737-1798
Capt. Job Mead Sr.
1735-1819
Job Mead Jr.
1761-1838
Capt. Abiah Palmer
1758-1834
Capt. Elijah Park
1744-1795
Capt. David Parsons
1748-1812
David Rundall
1757-1848
Samuel St. John
1752-1785
From left, Deborah Maier, moderator, Megan Wolff, Nicole Clanahan and Olivia Skeen.
MILLERTON — The Climate Smart Task Force celebrated the end of Earth Day week on Sunday, April 27, with a free showing of “Plastic People,” a documentary about humanity’s relationship with plastic, cosponsored by The Moviehouse.
The award-winning film portrays a pervasive role plastic plays in our lives and explores its effect on human health, especially as microplastics.
Microplastics have found their way into human organs and even into the placentas of new mothers. The film is a call to action by science journalist Ziya Tong, who talks with scientists and undertakes self experimentation to prove her points.
Following the showing, attended by approximately 50 people, Deborah Maier, a member of Millerton’s Climate Smart Task Force, hosted a panel on stage at The Moviehouse, leading a half-hour discussion on topics that ranged from examples of plastic present in food and cosmetics to ways to reduce plastic use.
One panelist, Megan Wolff, executive director of P-SNAP, a physician and scientist network, appealed to the audience to reach out to New York state legislators to urge them to support a Packaging Reduction and Recylcing Infrastructure Act in Albany. Wolff also is a professor at Bennington College.
“Right now you have the most power on the planet to change this,” Wolff said, refering to the Albany legislation. “It (the bill) caps the production of plastic. It pulls out some of the most toxic chemicals. And it creates a producer-pays principle,” she said.
Wolff urged the audience to write and call their representatives, and to go to Albany on May 7, which is lobby day.
Wolff said that a lot of chemicals in food are known neurotoxins. The same is true, she said, of the presence of chemicals in cosmetics.
Composting
Olivia Skeen, a manager at McEnroe Organic Farm in Millerton, described the farm’s state-of-the-art composting operation that composts from a wide variety of sources, including households and bulk food waste from the Northeast region and New York City.
Skeen explained that compostable plastic can takes about 140 days to break down, compared to 40 to 60 days with food waste.
One particularly troublesome problem are produce stickers on food, which are made of a heavier plastic that is difficult to sort in the process.
Skeen noted that McEnroe’s offers three composting bins for drop-off at its former farm market and eatery on Route 22.
Reusing
Nicole Clanahan, who runs Rural Center Refillery in Pine Plains, spoke about ways to change habits around products used every day. Those products include not only food goods, but cleaning products as well.
“Once they’re in the store,” she said, “it’s an opportunity for us to show them something that’s so easy to do.”
Rural Center Refillery last summer began a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program with local farms.
“We have about 60 members right now,” she said. Members pay a monthly fee to get a portion of goods.
Maier closed the discussion with an optimistic note: “We still can do something about it.”
The members of the Climate Smart Task Force are Chris Kennan, Town of North East Supervisor; Matthew Hartzog, Village of Millerton Trustee; Kathy Chow, Task Force Coordinator; Deborah Maier, Kathleen Spahn, Rich Stalzer, Andrew Stayman, Chris Virtuoso and Steve Fahmie.