Split level pricing continues in Amenia
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
Latest News
CHORE Garden Party raises support for seniors, caregivers
Ruth Epstein
Jun 24, 2026
A large crowd gathered at the home of Jamie Delaney and Michael Cullen for the annual CHORE Service Garden Party.
Ruth Epstein
Community members gathered at the hillside home of Jamie Delany and Michael Cullen on Saturday, June 20, to help ensure that their senior and disabled neighbors are able to remain independent.
The event was the annual CHORE Service garden party. The organization provides a variety of everyday support services people rely on, such as help with errands and light housekeeping, while also providing employment opportunities for local residents.
As guests strolled through the expansive gardens and enjoyed hors d’oeuvres, cocktails and one another’s company, they were thanked by staff and board members for their support.
“Because of your support, this past year has been one of meaningful growth and impact,” Jane MacLaren, CHORE Service director, told the audience. “Together we provided nearly 10,000 hours of essential services — an 18% increase over last year — and served 254 residents in our community. We also provided part-time employment to more than 50 caregivers.”
She shared the story of one couple in which the husband is slowing down. While he is largely independent, his wife does not feel comfortable leaving him alone for long periods. Her life had become centered on caregiving, and she felt the need for some time for herself.
She called CHORE, and now, once a week, a caregiver takes her husband out to run errands, giving him an opportunity to stay active and connected while providing her with a break from constant responsibility.
“That’s the difference a few hours can make,” MacLaren said.
She announced that CHORE is expanding its services to include nonmedical respite care for unpaid caregivers like this wife. The organization also plans to expand its transportation program in response to growing demand for rides to medical appointments and social events.
“We look forward to sharing more about these new and expanded initiatives with you in the coming weeks and to demonstrating how your support continues to shape our neighbors’ lives.”
Board Vice Chairman David Becker spoke about the Fund the Cause initiative, which has a goal of $30,000. The funds will be earmarked for transportation to medical appointments.
He noted the beauty of the Northwest Corner but said its lack of transportation options can create significant challenges for many residents.
“Uber doesn’t exist in this part of the state,” he quipped, adding, “No one should miss medical appointments because they don’t have a ride.”
Among the attendees was Darcey Markelon of Litchfield, a CHORE caregiver. She signed up four years ago after retiring as a special education teacher in New Milford. She currently has two clients, and her enthusiasm for the work quickly became apparent.
“I’ve always enjoyed working with the elderly; it’s so rewarding,” Markelon said. “My clients and I have developed close relationships. I look forward to seeing them every week, and they look forward to seeing me.”
For more information, visit choreservice.org
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'Bar None: Cannabis Redemption'
Millerton News
Jun 24, 2026
Provided
The documentary Bar None: Cannabis Redemption will screen at Stissing Center in Pine Plains Saturday, June 27 at 7:30 p.m. Although cannabis is now legal in much of the U.S., hundreds of thousands still carry the weight of past convictions — and tens of thousands remain behind bars. The film follows 13 people caught in the justice system who’ve turned their lives around by entering the legal cannabis industry. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the film’s creator. Tickets are available at thestissingcenter.org
Legal Notices - June 25, 2026
Millerton News
Jun 24, 2026
Legal Notice
Notice of Filing
Completed
Assessment Roll with Clerk
Notice is hereby given that the Final Assessment Roll for the Town of Pine Plains in the County of Dutchess for the year 2026 has been completed by the undersigned assessor, and a certified copy is filed in the office of the town clerk on the 1st day of July, 2026, where the same will remain open for public inspection by appointment during normal business hours.
Assessor for the Town of Pine Plains Sara Foglia
06-25-26
Legal Notice
Notice of Formation of Kaits Kleaning LLC. Art. Of Org. filed with SSNY on 05-22-2026. Office Lo-cation: Dutchess county. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 24 Attlebury Hill Road, Standfordville NY 12581.
06-04-26
06-11-26
06-18-26
06-25-26
07-02-26
07-09-26
NOTICE OF COMPLETION
OF FINAL ASSESSMENT ROLL
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT THE FINAL ASSESSMENT ROLL FOR THE TOWN OF AMENIA, COUNTY OF DUTCHESS, FOR THE YEAR 2026, HAS BEEN COMPLETED BY THE UNDERSIGNED ASSESSOR, AND A CERTIFIED COPY IS FILED IN THE OFFICE OF THE TOWN CLERK OF AMENIA, 4988 ROUTE 22, AMENIA, NY, ON THE FIRST DAY OF JULY, 2026, WHERE THE SAME WILL REMAIN OPEN FOR PUBLIC INSPECTION. A COPY OF SUCH WILL BE AVAIL-ABLE ONLINE AT AMENIANY.GOV
DATED THIS 1ST DAY OF JULY, 2026.
DONNA DIPIPPO ASSESSOR
TOWN OF AMENIA
845-373-8118 x 104
06-18-26
06-25-26
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Classifieds - June 25, 2026
Millerton News
Jun 24, 2026
EMPLOYMENT
HELP WANTED
Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center is a year-round 120-person retreat facility that is located in Falls Village, CT. Want to work at a beautiful, peaceful location, with great people? This is the place to be!We are currently seeking positions for Seasonal Lifeguard(s), Cook, Retreat services associate (banquet server front of house) and Mashgichim (F/T or P/T) for our summer season. For more details please visit our website at Careers - Adamah or email a copy of your resume to rebecca.eisen@adamah.org
SERVICES OFFERED
Héctor Pacay Landscaping and Construction LLC: Fully insured. Renovation, decking, painting; interior exterior, mowing lawn, garden, stone wall, patio, tree work, clean gutters, mowing fields. 845-636-3212.Old Houses and Barns my specialty: Renovations and Re-pairs. 25 years serving the tri-state area. Licensed and Insured. Based in Canaan, CT. David Valyou 917-538-1617. davidvalyou@yahoo.com
MERCHANDISE & SERVICES
HORSES & EQUIPMENT
Looking for a small farm to board my 22 year old mare ideally located near trails. She gets along well with other horses. No drama. Available to help with feeding and or turnout if needed. 860-786-2546.
REAL ESTATE
PUBLISHER'S NOTICE: Equal Housing Opportunity. All real estate advertised in this newspaper is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act of 1966 revised March 12, 1989 which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color religion, sex, handicap or familial status or national origin or intention to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination. All residential property advertised in the State of Connecticut General Statutes 46a-64c which prohibit the making, printing or publish-ing or causing to be made, printed or published any notice, statement or advertisement with respect to the sale or:rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, marital status, age, lawful source of income, familial status, physical or mental disability or an intention to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination.
HOUSE FOR RENT
2 Bedroom House. Millerton, NY. Quiet. 4 miles from town.$2500 monthly, plus utilities. 518-567-8277.
TAG SALES
Massachusetts
Estate Sale. Rain or Shine. July 3, 4. 9-5. 1011 Crossroads to Canaan Valley Road New Marl-borough, MA 01259.
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Thai tea shop moving forward after winning Board of Health approval
Nathan Miller
Jun 23, 2026
Kanchisar Jiradhanaiphat, left, and John Schildbach hope to open Muanjai Tea on Main Street in Millerton by late July.
Photo by Nathan Miller
MILLERTON — Owners of a Thai tea shop planned for Main Street expect to get started with interior renovations this week after receiving approval for septic system plans from health officials.
John Schildbach, who plans to open Muanjai Tea at 28 Main St. in July, said on Monday, June 22, that the shop is awaiting one final approval from the Dutchess County Board of Health on the interior space itself and expects to begin installing counters and seating immediately after.
Discussions with the Board of Health over septic capacity caused earlier delays. Schildbach originally planned to have seating for 20 people inside the shop, but health officials required him to scale back that plan. The shop’s septic system was approved with the condition that only 14 seats be installed inside the shop.
He said the build out will likely take at least three weeks longer, meaning the storefront is not expected to open prior to Millerton’s 175 celebration running from July 11 to July 19. But Schildbach is planning to operate a pop-up tent offering a limited variety of tea drinks during the celebration.
Schildbach also plans to distribute 25% discount coupons to shoppers that stop by the pop-up. Customers can then use those coupons once the shop opens to get a discount at the shop once it opens later in July.
“It’s a little bit of a discount for people who want to try us out,” Schildbach said.
Schildbach announced plans to open the tea shop with his wife, Kanchisar Jiradhanaiphat, in late April. The shop will occupy the storefront formerly occupied by Candy-Os on Main Street.
“This isn’t going to be a bubble tea shop,” Schildbach said in April, describing a menu that seeks to bring authentic Thai tea culture to Millerton.
Highlights will include nom yen — a pink milk tea made with sweetened condensed milk and flavored syrup — as well as coffee cham yen, a blend of coffee and tea. The menu will also feature Thai tea ice cream floats, lattes and matcha drinks.
But the pair don’t want to limit the menu to just desserts and sweets. Schildbach said they are aiming for a sophisticated — yet affordable — menu that offers an authentic, approachable take on Thai tea shops.
That desire for authenticity will be built into the space itself, Schildbach said. Plans for the tea shop include adding a wall to create a service window typical of Bangkok tea shops, accented with tile and wood details.
The goal is to fit in with Millerton’s current lineup of Main Street businesses, while providing a unique experience for locals and visitors alike.
“It’s going to be like you’re in a tea shop in Thailand,” Schildbach said.
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Local firewood splitter remembers a life of back-breaking labor
Joe Brennan
Jun 23, 2026
Phil Carroll stands near a pile of cut firewood he prepared for sale across New York. The Amenia native has been cutting trees and splitting wood for fireplaces for decades.
Photo By Joe Brennan
AMENIA — It’s been said that wood, as it burns, tells its history.
Phil Carroll has split and sold countless cords of dry highly flammable firewood over the decades and has narrated a lot of the history of his hometown, Amenia.
Carroll’s story begins more than 80 years ago on the banks of what was once Lake Amenia. Right before Carroll was born in 1942, his brother drowned at that swimming spot at the end of Lake Amenia Road, where the dam used to be. Phil’s mother was furious years later when she caught Phil skating across the frozen lake one winter day.
“She already lost one son to that lake,” Carroll said.
But they didn’t move out of their neighborhood to escape bad memories. Even after the dam broke, draining the lake into swamps nearby and forever changing Amenia’s landscape, his family bought and traded the land, moved houses, improved them, stayed close and planted huge gardens, plowed them over and made their own little community of wood cutters. Everything today is impeccably cared for.
The wood cutting machines are clean but clearly well used. It is a place of steady purposeful work.
Before making his career as a firewood supplier, Carroll worked as a tractor-trailer driver cross country but didn’t like it.
“You can’t sleep in a truck and own a house,” Carroll said. “Anybody who does that I think is crazy. You’re paying for the house and you’re out there.”
Then he got the idea of selling bundles of wood he sourced from his own property and nearby forests. His family thought he was crazy. Nobody around here would pay for kiln-dried firewood so Phil started hauling four-foot lengths of wood south to Fishkill, Clark, and Wilkins, New York, eventually leading to connections to New York City.
He had cleared trees right across the lake, where developer John Lango carved out those homes on Broadway. It was a swamp then, part of the lake. Then he worked to clear the forests behind his house — by the Squabble Hole, where the old ore mine flooded and made a perfect swimming hole. Phil couldn’t swim much, but the town boys dove off a rope halfway up Squabble Mountain.
He focused on distributing his wood Manhattan’s East Side first because storefront owners would pay and he could double park his truck at less risk of $600 tickets. In 1988, walking block to block, store to store, the small bodega owners saved him, and supermarket chain D’Agostinos took half a truckload but couldn’t put a real wood pile in the basement or else risk burning down the borough.
“I used to buy 80 to 90 thousand dollars of wood a year, just for New York,” Carroll said. “I’ve cut that down to 35 thousand now.”
While visiting New York all those decades ago, Carroll fostered an appreciation for dancing at Korean nightclubs. A full day’s worth of driving and delivering firewood would end with a high-energy fete dancing until the clubs closed at 3 a.m. Then Carroll would drive home.
Over the years, Carroll has recruited most of his family to join in on the business, including his son, Phil Carroll Jr.
Phil Jr. turned to the forest at 5 years old to work with his father. His job was marking logs with a 19 inch stick his father gave him, that had been measured and carved out for him as a template. Phil gave Phil Jr. a small hatchet, and not a Davy Crockett rubber blade, a real sharp edge and he marked off each section with a chopped notch as his father came behind him and tore through the felled tree with his chainsaw.
The assembly line begins at the simple splitter. It’s been sitting out in the split log walls around the driveway. These mostly go to the campgrounds like Copake. The air-dried local pieces take a year to cure and do not burn as good as his top-of-the-line stuff. J and J Lumber in Dover Plains bakes 19-inch lengths of various hardwood for a day and a half until its water content is bone dry.
These he splits over and over again so most of the bundle’s individual pieces are small and light enough to be picked up by anyone. The other pieces are even smaller, making for ready kindling although the whole pile will erupt in perfect flame, dry as tumbleweed.
Just look at the design of his signature product: the firewood bundle. It’s got his name on top, easy to read, so the buyer knows he’s getting the real deal from the master. The clear plastic is shrink wrapped so you can see that the wood and bark is clean and dry and free of bugs.
Phil, who still works selling firewood, takes pride in his product, he’s been known to throw a bundle across the workshop, “Who the hell made that!”
And Phil’s tireless, always figuring. As he looks out over his backyard, he’s still thinking ahead. “Next year I’m going to get a guy I know to blow up that other side of the hill,” Carroll said dryly. “I’d have twice as much flat land up here.”
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