Erin Rollins of Millbrook in the Fashion Feed booth, open year round, at the Millbrook Antiques Mall. All proceeds from Fashion Feeds go to the Food of Life Pantry. As an interior designer by trade, Rollins designed this booth to evoke a high-end department store to align with the designer brands she carries.
MILLERTON — The Townscape 50/50 raffle drawing has collected a pot of more than $7,000.
That raffle drawing will take place this Saturday at 2 p.m. in Veteran’s Park. The moment is not just about picking a winner, but also about reflecting on how far Townscape has come since its humble beginnings in 1998, when founder Catherine Fenn — alongside Renee Vollen and Jan Gilmor — first set out to beautify her beloved village.
Fenn’s connection to Millerton runs deep. “I moved here from the Bronx when I was eight years old and fell in love with the place, even as a child,” she recalled, remembering camping trips at Rudd Pond and enjoying the quiet pace of life.
At 15, her family relocated to southern Connecticut. “My dad didn’t think there was much here for us, so we moved. I left kicking and screaming, literally, and I said, ‘Someday I’m coming back.’”
Years later, after marrying, divorcing, and raising children, Fenn kept that promise. She returned to Millerton and married a childhood friend who was very involved in the fire department. After his passing, Fenn threw herself into her own way of giving back.
“I care about this village deeply. Townscape is my way of helping Millerton be the best it can be,” she said.
What began as an informal effort to gather volunteers and plant flowers eventually blossomed into something larger. “We started with flowers up and down Main Street — barrels of them everywhere. Then it grew into benches, tables, trees and even events. It was such a fun world, a really wonderful organization with so many people involved.”
Fenn’s service to the community extends beyond beautification. She spent roughly two decades on the Planning Board, served as Town Supervisor and worked with the county housing authority. Still, her passion for flowers, trees and landscapes has left the most visible mark on Millerton — shaping not only how the village looks, but how it feels.
In 2006, Townscape became a nonprofit organization. But beautification, Fenn admits, isn’t always the easiest cause to fund. “We’re just putting flowers out — and I shouldn’t say ‘just,’ because to me it’s really important. The trees, the benches, all of it matters. But it’s not high on most people’s list when they think about charitable donations. Still, people have been wonderfully generous over the years.”
This Saturday’s raffle drawing is one way neighbors can show their support. The winner does not have to be present to claim the prize, but those who stop by can enjoy cookies, lemonade and artwork by local creators on display in the park.
AMENIA — Two current subdivision applications were discussed at the regular meeting of the Planning Board on Thursday, Sept. 25, both progressing toward public input phases but needing more clarity on environmental and visual impact.
Cascade Creek
Representing developer Hudson River Housing, a Poughkeepsie nonprofit, was Senior Planner Peter Sander of Rennia Engineering who provided a summary of the plans for the conservation subdivision along Cascade Road. A conservation subdivision allows for reduced lot sizes, Sander explained.
Plans call for 28 residential lots with two parcels allocated to provide underground utilities, including common wastewater treatment. Potable water supply would be sourced from on-site wells.
The conservation analysis was accepted by the Planning Board in June, Sander noted, adding that the area is surrounded by similarly-sized lots.
“We believe that the application is ready for action and scheduling of a public hearing,” Sander said.
“A voluminous amount of material has been submitted,” agreed Planning Board engineer John Andrews who said that the studies embedded within those materials appear to show no information that would lead to an adverse environmental impact.
Those materials include a traffic study, ecological study, discharge analysis, archeological assessment and an analysis showing conformity with the town’s comprehensive plan for development, Andrews said.
Board attorney Paul Van Cott noted, however, that before scheduling a public hearing, the board would still need to arrive at an environmental determination of whether there exists any significant adverse impact.
Board member Ken Topolsky said that he continues to have concerns about density, visual impact, and whether the housing would be defined as affordable housing or workforce housing. He also had concerns about impact on the nearby creek and the effect of stormwater runoff, as well as the effect on bog turtle migration.
Hearing the concerns, Sander asked the board to provide him with a written listing, feeling also that the concerns were answered by data contained within the materials already submitted.
“[HRH] is an organization that wants to benefit the community,” Sander said.
Continuing his concern about traffic and public safety, board member Walter Dietrich noted that 28 homes could produce 56 cars making daily trips. He also noted the absence of streetlights in the planning.
“How does that not impact?” Dietrich asked.
Agreeing with Dietrich, board member James Walsh noted the number of vehicular accidents in that area, close to Freshtown Plaza.
“Streetlights would make for more visual impact,” Sander noted, a topic that is already a “hot issue.”
Planning Board chairman Robert Boyles expressed concern on behalf of the fire company about the capacity of the planned hydrants, feeling that the water volume might be insufficient to extinguish a house fire.
By unanimous accord, the board agreed to discuss the application again at their Wednesday, Oct. 22, meeting, giving Sander time to extract and summarize the data from submitted documents in response to board concerns.
Keane Stud
Taking a step toward review of the visual impact of plans to subdivide Keane Stud acreage, the Planning Board learned that a “scope analysis” has now been submitted for their consideration.
Representing the Keane Stud developers was attorney Diana Kolev, Partner of DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise Wiederkehr, LLP, of White Plains. Since June, the developers have worked to define environmental and visual impacts of the proposed subdivision, advised by the board’s visual consultant George Janes.
Attorney Van Cott explained that the scope analysis needs to be “owned by the board” and he suggested a public meeting to introduce and review the information.
Accordingly, the board voted unanimously to publish the scope analysis on the town website and to schedule a review and discussion of the document at its next scheduled meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 8. Board member Nina Peek recused from the vote; board member Jamie Vitiello was absent.
Webutuck students showed off dance moves from the Hispanic diaspora during the second annual Hispanic Heritage Night at Webutuck High School on Saturday, Sept. 27.
AMENIA — Students of the Webutuck School District celebrated their hispanic heritage with a demonstration of dances and home-cooked food on Saturday, Sept. 27.
The dancing kicked off just before 6 p.m. starting with a demonstration of classic Mexican moves, followed by dances of Ecuador, Honduras, Costa Rica and Guatemala.
Dancers ranged in age from elementary students to seniors at Webutuck High School, all clad in changing costumes representing each country.
Following the dance presentation in the auditorium, members of the audience were directed to the cafeteria where a buffet of homemade dishes representing cuisines from across the Spanish-speaking world awaited them. Available for diners were fresh tamales, rice, beef, pork, churros, chicharrones, and hibiscus juice to wash it all down.
The buffet didn’t last long, as many people piled the home cooked food high on their plates and ate the traditional cuisines with gusto.
Then it was off to the gym, where a dance party was taking place for the now well-fed and energized group of parents and students.
Saturday’s celebration marks the second year of what district staff say they hope will become a regular annual tradition at the school.
Built in 1999 and updated in 2017 59 Bangall Road is a 5,086 square foot house with panoramic views which sold for $1.9 million on July 30.
MILLBROOK — Transfers of real estate recorded in July and August in the Town of Washington continued a pace with the median price of a single-family home rising to $700,000 at the end of August 2025, up from $492,500 last year.
At the end of September there were 24 single family homes listed for sale in the Village of Millbrook including the most expensive 45 Hitchcock Lane for $65 million and the least expensive at $629,000.
August Transfers
16 Shunpike — 3 bedroom/3 bath home on 6.9 acres sold to Stephen White for $745,000.
515-521 Woodstock Road — Single family home on 5.35 acres sold to Oliver Brown for $450,000.
3925 Route 82 — 5 bedroom/5.5 bath home built in 1850 on 13.49 acres sold to Butterfly Hill LLC for $1,817,500.
59 Bangall Road — 4 bedroom/3 bath/2 half bath on 6.18 acres sold to Michael Thompson Millbrook LLC for $1.9 million.
Hammond Hill Road (#595902) — 14.71 acres rural vacant land sold to Anthony Galente for $157,500.
July Transfers
620 Route 343 — 3 bedroom/2 bath home on .94 acres sold to Donald E Brandes for $700,000.
471 Butts Hollow Road — 1 bedroom/1 bath 1,259 square foot ranch sold to Fallerhof LLC for $537,500.
667 Shunpike — 4 bedroom/2 bath home on 9.3 acres sold to Porterfield, Hathaway Lynch Trustee for $1.9 million.
*Town of Washington recorded real estate transfers from July 1 to Aug. 31 not previously reported sourced from Dutchess County Real Property Office monthly reports. Details on each property from Dutchess Parcel Access. Market data from One Key MLS and Infosparks Compiled by Christine Bates, Real Estate Advisor with William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, Licensed in Connecticut and New York.
Almost 20 years ago in a packed chapel at The Salisbury School a television journalist famous for his coverage of national politics led a discussion on the question: “Can Democracy Survive the Media?” His name was Sander Vanocur, a prominent reporter whose contemporaries were other big names at political conventions in the 1960s:John Chancellor, Frank McGee and Edwin Newman. Vanocur was one of the questioners at the first of the Kennedy-Nixon debates in 1960.
The Salisbury event back then in 2005 was brought to the Northwest Corner by a unique regional organization known as The Salisbury Forum, which now is celebrating 20 years sponsoring open discourse for a community hungry for thoughtful dialogue.
Last week, another prominent journalist, Judy Woodruff, former anchor and managing editor of the PBS Newshour, was on stage at The Forum’s sold-out event at The Salisbury School. (Read Patrick L. Sullivan’s coverage here.)
For two decades, the Forum, a nonprofit, has hosted speaker forums that “foster a deeper understanding of issues that affect our lives globally and locally,” to quote its mission statement.
As a community we are fortunate to be the beneficiary of such a committed and valuable local organization. The Forum is supported as well by other institutions in our community that provide venues for the Forum’s event. Those include The Hotchkiss School and Salisbury School, The Moviehouse in Millerton and Housatonic Valley Regional High School in Falls Village.
For twenty years, forums — free and open to the public — have explored a wide range of topics that span the rural health crisis in the Northwest Corner, to discussions on food access, the future of journalism, the future of democracy, climate change, citizenship, pandemics, the future of books in an age of AI, as well as subjects related to science, politics and international relations. There seems to be no end to the survey of topics explored by the forums. And no limit to the level of sophistication of its speakers. They include scholars from many disciplines, diplomats, housing experts, award-winning actors of theater, film and television, environmentalists, filmmakers, art critics, theater critics, and on and on with speakers who illuminate the challenges facing America today in civic, political, scientific and cultural life.
The Forum is an adult-ed course we receive for free, which connects us with ideas and draws conversation about the full gamut of Arts and Science of today’s complicated world.
We thank the Forum and its board for an indispensable service to the community. And encourage everyone to visit the Forum’s website to learn more about the people who make it happen and about the history of this nonprofit’s contribution to our community.
