Suffragette’s unlikely tale; Millerton auto shop break-in; year 2000 calendars show ‘way it was’
From the archives of the Millerton News, Oct. 31, 2024.
From the archives of the Millerton News, Oct. 31, 2024.
The following excerpts from The Millerton News were compiled by Kathleen Spahn, Vivian Sukenik, Nancy Vialpando and Rhiannon Leo-Jameson of the North East-Millerton Library.
October 26, 1933
‘Aldrich Once a Suffragette’; Raymond E. Aldrich, of Dutchess County, Republican nominee for Supreme Court Justice in the Ninth Judicial District, once took the role of a suffragette. Back in 1909, when young Aldrich had just finished his course at the Albany Law School and was too young to be admitted to the Bar, he was leaning nonchalantly against a telephone pole in Albany one day when a woman approached him.
“Young Man, do you want to earn two dollars?”
Aldrich jumped at the chance.
“Come with me,” the woman said, “we want you to carry a banner.”
So up toward the State Capitol marched Aldrich carrying a heavy banner “Votes for Women” and flanked on either side by suffragettes.
He told this story at a political meeting not long ago and his hearers challenged his statement.
“How could he prove it?” they asked.
That had the former district attorney of Dutchess County stumped, but not for long.
The story was printed in the Poughkeepsie newspapers and next day the corner druggist hailed him.
“You want proof that you carried a suffrage banner. Well, here is the proof; I saw you trudging up the hill in Albany.”
‘Grange Plans Hallowe’en Masquerade’; The annual Millerton Grange Hallowe’en masquerade party will be held in the Grange hall next Monday evening…The lecturer is making arrangements to provide a most interesting and enjoyable entertainment, to be followed by the serving of delicious refreshments of which there will be an abundant supply.
‘About Millerton’; An Automobile driven by Harry Moore and a truck owned by John Mercer collided Tuesday morning on the new Boston Corners road. Although both cars were damaged considerably, neither driver was injured.
Tom Flood reports that the first day’s pheasant hunting in Connecticut brought surprising results.
October 24, 1974
‘Dutchess Auto Burglarized’; Dutchess Auto Company, on the corner of Main Street and Route 22 in Millerton, was burglarized sometime between Sunday night, Oct.20 and Monday morning, Oct. 21.
About $1500 [sic] in an assortment of auto body shop equipment was stolen, according to New York State Police Investigator Hugh McNallen.
The Burglary was discovered a little after 6 a.m. by employes [sic] arriving at work. At present, the police said Tuesday afternoon that they had no suspects in the case.
Investigator McNallen said that entry was gained to the shop through a side window where a pane was broken. He added that he imagined that more than one person was involved in the burglary. It is still under investigation.
October 28,1999
‘Year 2000 Calendars Show ‘Way It Was’’; MILLERTON: The North East Historical Society is offering for sale a Year 2000 Calendar of North East-Millerton, “The Way It Was.” Each month features a turn-of-the-previous-century postcard taken from the society’s archives and private collections. Some of the scenes depicted include the Methodist Church of Millerton before the bell tower was removed; the bank and dry goods store (now Saperstein’s) on Main Street; a view of Indian Lake from the Pinnacle; and the ruins of an old iron furnace, to name a few.
Phil Thompson, vice president of the historical society, scanned the postcards while Elsie Albig looked over his shoulder to make sure he captured the beauty and detail in the scenes.
The calendars sell for $8 each and can be purchased at Terni’s, Oblong Books and Music, The Millerton News, Weinstein’s Rexall Drugs and the Millerton Antique Center. Only 200 calendars were printed making it a limited edition collector’s item, as well as an ideal holiday gift.
‘Hooked Rugs on Display at NE Library’; MILLERTON - A collection of American traditional hooked rugs is currently on exhibit at the North East-Millerton Library. All the rugs have been crafted by Marilyn Ashfield, who has been hooking rugs for 18 years.
Two of the hooked rugs on display are specific to this area: one is of a train with the legend “Harlem Valley R.R., Boston Corners, NY,” the second is labeled “Hell’s Acres” and depicts homes and buildings in Boston Corners.
Also on display is the hooked rug Marilyn Ashfield has donated to the Millerton Library. The drawing for this rug, which will be the first prize in a raffle to benefit the library, will be held at the Dec. 8 meeting of the library’s board of trustees.
Second prize is a handmade drop-handle shaker basket, signed and dated by Bob Albig, which is on display at the library. Third prize is a 3-by-5-foot wool braided rug, also handmade by Ms. Ashfield. Chances are available from the library for $1 each or six for $5.
Rug hooking is considered by many authorities to be the one indigenous folk art in America, and dates back to when worn-out woolen garments (including flannel underwear) were too precious to be thrown away. They were transformed into rugs to be used on beds for warmth (not on the floor). If you are interested in this uniquely American craft, stop by the library for more information and to see these rugs in person.
Sheffield resident, singer Wanda Houston will play Mumbet in "1781" on June 19 at 7 p.m. at The Center on Main, Falls Village.
In August of 1781, after spending thirty years as an enslaved woman in the household of Colonel John Ashley in Sheffield, Massachusetts, Elizabeth Freeman, also known as Mumbet, was the first enslaved person to sue for her freedom in court. At the time of her trial there were 5,000 enslaved people in the state. MumBet’s legal victory set a precedent for the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts in 1790, the first in the nation. She took the name Elizabeth Freeman.
Local playwrights Lonnie Carter and Linda Rossi will tell her story in a staged reading of “1781” to celebrate Juneteenth, ay 7 p.m. at The Center on Main in Falls Village, Connecticut.Singer Wanda Houston will play MumBet, joined by actors Chantell McCulloch, Tarik Shah, Kim Canning, Sherie Berk, Howard Platt, Gloria Parker and Ruby Cameron Miller. Musical composer Donald Sosin added, “MumBet is an American hero whose story deserves to be known much more widely.”
Houston has shared the stage with stars ranging from Barbra Streisand to Motown great Mary Wells. “I have had the honor of portraying Elizabeth Freeman for three years in “Meet Elizabeth Freeman” by Teresa Miller. Our first reading of “1781” is in celebration of Juneteenth, which is wonderfully symbolic and poignant.” Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery. Two years after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, word of their freedom finally reached slaves in Texas on June 19, 1865.
Tombstone of Elizabeth Freeman in the “Sedgewick Pie” family burial ground in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Lonnie carter
MumBet, born in 1742 to African enslaved parents, was purchased at age six months by Colonel John Ashley of Sheffield, Massachusetts, for whom she worked until her thirties. Ashley helped write the 1773 Sheffield Declaration which stated, “Mankind in a state of nature are equal, free, and independent of each other, and have a right to the undisturbed enjoyment of their lives, their liberty and property.” Rumor has it that MumBet overheard a reading of the document. After a traumatic household experience, MumBet left the Ashley home in Bartholomew’s Cobble, walked four miles to Sheffield, and asked attorney and abolitionist Theodore Sedgwick to help her gain her freedom.
Houston shared, “I live in Sheffield near where she was enslaved, in a house she would have passed on her walk from Ashley Falls to Sheffield. I am humbled by the fortitude and inner strength it must have taken for this woman to defy norms and take a stand for her own freedom.We Americans must still stand and fight for our rights to live free.”
Elizabeth Freeman spent her years as a free woman working for wages in the Sedgewick household, saving money to buy her own home in Stockbridge, where she was a midwife and healer. She died in 1829 and is buried in “Sedgewick Pie,” the family burial plot in Stockbridge. One of her great-grandchildren, W.E.B. DuBois, born in Great Barrington, was the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard. DuBois founded the NAACP.
Her tombstone reads: “She was born a slave and remained a slave for nearly thirty years. She could neither read nor write yet in her own sphere she had no superior or equal. She neither wasted time nor property. She never violated a trust nor failed to perform a duty. In every situation of domestic trial, she was the most efficient helper, and the tenderest friend. Good mother, farewell.”
The performance of “1781” will take place Thursday, June 19 at 7 p.m. at The Center on Main (103 Main St., Falls Village).Admission is free, donations gratefully accepted.
The new mural painted by students at Saint John Paul The Great Academy in Torrington, Connecticut.
Thanks to a unique collaboration between The Nutmeg Fudge Company, local artist Gerald Incandela, and Saint John Paul The Great Academy in Torrington, Connecticut a mural — designed and painted entirely by students — now graces the interior of the fudge company.
The Nutmeg Fudge Company owner Kristy Barto was looking to brighten her party space with a mural that celebrated both old and new Torrington. She worked with school board member Susan Cook and Incandela to reach out to the Academy’s art teacher, Rachael Martinelli.
“When Susan and Gerald brought this to me, I immediately saw it as a chance for my students to make something meaningful and lasting,” said Martinelli. “It wasn’t just about painting a wall, it was about teaching kids to serve their community through their art.”
Martinelli introduced the project as an after-school club for grades four through eight. “I wanted students who were truly committed,” she explained. Interest was so high that she had to divide participants into rotating grade-level groups, with occasional full-team days for collaboration. The mural became a long-term endeavor, stretching across a school year and a half.
The painting was created on canvas, a nearly 4’ x 27’ roll, donated by Incandela. The paint came courtesy of school principal Ed Goad. With materials secured, the students dove into research, studying maps, landmarks, and city history to inform their designs. “They worked to capture the spirit of Torrington,” Martinelli said. “But also, to match the whimsy of a candy shop.”
The result is a mural that features a playful “candyland” version of the city, where important buildings and landmarks are sized according to their importance to both the client and the community. “They created this hierarchy of bubbles and buildings, this joyful visual story,” Martinelli said. “It’s full of life.”
Beyond art skills, Martinelli witnessed her students develop qualities often harder to teach: teamwork, communication, resilience. “They learned to scale up sketches, mix large batches of paint for consistency, and adapt their work when it overlapped with someone else’s. They really respected each other’s contributions.”
The project also reflected the Academy’s Catholic STREAM (Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, Arts, and Math) approach to education. “This was STREAM in action,” Martinelli explained. “They used technology to scale and transfer designs, applied math for proportions and spacing, and worked collaboratively to problem-solve. But they also lived their faith — through service, solidarity, and joy.”
Martinelli believes the mural speaks as much to the process as it does to the final product. “Some of the kids who worked on it have already graduated, but they’re coming back for the unveiling. That says something.”
The unveiling of the mural will take place at The Nutmeg Fudge Company on June 11, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., where families, friends, and community members are invited to celebrate the students’ achievement.
Asked what stood out most from the experience, Martinelli said, “For me, the most rewarding part was watching a diverse group of kids work together — different grades, different friend groups — all collaborating with respect, flexibility, and positivity. They created something beautiful, together.”
Curator Henry Klimowicz, left, with artists Brigitta Varadi and Amy Podmore at The Re Institute
For anyone who wants a deeper glimpse into how art comes about, an on-site artist talk is a rich experience worth the trip.On Saturday, June 14, Henry Klimowicz’s cavernous Re Institute — a vast, converted 1960’s barn north of Millerton — hosted Amy Podmore and Brigitta Varadi, who elucidated their process to a small but engaged crowd amid the installation of sculptures and two remarkable videos.
Though they were all there at different times, a common thread among Klimowicz, Podmore and Varadi is their experience of New Hampshire’s famed MacDowell Colony. The silence, the safety of being able to walk in the woods at night, and the camaraderie of other working artists are precious goads to hardworking creativity. For his part, for fifteen years, Klimowicz has promoted community among thousands of participating artists, in the hope that the pairs or groups he shows together will always be linked. “To be an artist,” he stressed, “is to be among other artists.”
Curator and owner Klimowicz and both artists spoke of the physicality of making art, revealing an abounding intimacy with their materials. Podmore recounted seeking the perfect bare branches to use in her “Fall,” the piece that dominates the center of the space.She would find those that most suggested figures slipping into a fall, and mimic them herself, as animators do for accuracy, before admitting them into the crew now lying on the floor.Each isunique, but all are united by their red-socked feet, which, though tiny, are touchingly rendered in adult proportions. For art professor Podmore, they signal how “failing in public” is a phenomenon today’s students must learn to navigate.
For Varadi, whose background is Rusyn-Carpathian, the main medium is Karakul sheep’s wool, a particularly robust variety used in Persian carpets. Her process of felting the fiber involves extremely hard labor; she wryly expressed hope that technology would ease the burden of this long-term project, best seen in her huge wall piece, “With Their Backs to the Mountains.” The title refers to the staunch resilience of her ancestors — stateless but proud, subject to historical violence.
In Varadi’s video “Hunia-Permission to Be,” the color red amid the chiaroscuro of snowy winter forests offers a mesmerizing counterpart to Podmore’s floorpiece.Wearing the traditional, oversized red felted coat called the Hunia, the artist silently plods through the lovely scene, suggesting cycles of effort, disappearing and reappearing.
Podmore’s video adds the aural element, with the creaking of trees rubbing against each other at various tilts.The title “Fifteen Degrees” indicates a tree’s maximum safe angle from vertical. Reflecting this, two silhouetted jointed figures lean against each other — by turns intimate and aggressive — a shockingly apt metaphor for current society.
“As a younger artist,” Podmore observed, “I was very serious about the human condition; now I see that it is just bizarre.”
Another of Podmore’s works, “Audience” — now on view at Mass MoCA — gives a nod and a wink to our strange time.Hundreds of unique plaster-cast baskets mounted along an 85-foot wall, some fitted with single mechanical eyes, offer viewers the experience of being viewed, to the quiet cacophony of eyes popping open.A must-see through Nov. 30.
The Re Institute exhibition can be seen through July 5, with hours Saturdays 1 to 4 p.m. and by appointment.More information at the reinstitute.com.