Edward Downey, left, president of the North East Historical Society with Ralph Fedele, president of the Friends of the Irondale Schoolhouse, at the Society’s Annual meeting at the NorthEast-Millerton Library Annex on Saturday, Nov. 16. Downey presented a lifetime membership in the society to Fedele in recognition of his work in preserving the area’s history. Downey noted, “Ralph Fedele is a force of nature, filled with ideas and energy.”
MILLERTON — For most teachers the capacity to influence students ends as they walk out the classroom doors and the teacher clears the board for the final time before moving into retirement.
That was not the case, however, for Violet Simmons, whose impact on the community and the world continued well after she completed her 48 years of service in schools throughout North East.
On Saturday, Nov. 16, at the NorthEast-Millerton Library Annex, Ed Downey, president of the North East Historical Society, presented the following information via Power Point at the society’s annual meeting, detailing the life of “a remarkable woman” who challenged all to utilize whatever gifts they might have been given and, as former student Patricia Fernandez once observed, “go out into the world and do great things.”
Born on March 3, 1911, Simmons lived her entire life in Millerton with the exception of four years at the State College at Albany and a short time at Noble Horizons before she passed away one day after her 90th birthday, and was one of the first four graduates of the Elm Avenue School.
In her valedictory address, she forecast her meticulous approach to the classroom quoting Michelangelo who once explained to a friend who questioned the time he spent reworking the arm of a statue, “Trifles make perfection and perfection is no trifle.”
Downey noted she focused on enrichment in which students learned “concepts as well as facts,” and believed “You get what you demand.”
Forever curious and always at home in the classroom, Simmons demanded as much of herself as of her students, teaching and learning, doing graduate work at New York University, Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, Syracuse University, Vassar College and the State University of New York at New Paltz.
When Simmons moved from the elementary level classes to social studies at the newly created Webutuck School she stopped using textbooks, turning instead to original sources and books — either required or student selected — which she believed added diversity and liveliness to classroom discussions.
She arranged for students to interview experts in the field being studied including part-time Amenia resident and civil rights Giant Thurgood Marshall.
Downey noted Simmons believed “From those to whom much is given, much is expected,” so when she became legally blind, she continued to teach for 20 years with the aid of a jeweler’s glass and eventually an assistant who read students’ work and recorded her comments.
Her service to her students started early when, as she began teaching, Simmons was required — as all teachers were — to contribute $100 to a student milk fund from her salary of $1,200. Taking care of her pupils continued when, upon her retirement, former students and community members attended a sold out dinner for 200 honoring her and raising funds for scholarships for Webutuck graduates, a program she helped to administer until her death and which continues to the present.
To access a video of Downey’s extensive discussion of Simmons, write to eddowney12@gmail.com.
Phragmites australis australis in North Canaan.
Finally rain. For weeks, the only place there had been moisture was in the marsh and even there, areas that usually catch my boots in the mud were dry. I could not see the footprints of the bear (or is it deer?) that have been digging up and eating the underground skunk cabbage flowers. Not that I could do anything to stop it. A layer of snow that actually sticks around for a while seems like wishful thinking these days.
Masses of skunk cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidus, appeared one spring, like magic, after we hired a team to remove the barberry from about an acre of the marsh adjacent to the driveway. Of course, it had been there all along, waiting patiently underground or hiding in the barberry’s thorny shrub-cages, but we had not seen it. That was about eight years ago; after the barberry’s removal there have been successive infestations of invasives but also, as with the skunk cabbage, some welcome new sightings of native plants.
I wrote in this column last year about Japanese stiltgrass, Microstegium vimineum, and the success in using the weed torch on a large patch of it in the marsh. It remained largely free of this annual invasive grass this year but we switched to hand weeding the area as, given the dry weather, we could not use the torch even in the marsh. Over the course of three weeks, we pulled out what amounted to 6 trash bins stuffed solid with the hairlike strands. As many of them have seedheads we will burn them once the ban is lifted. I should have paid attention to the stiltgrass infestation earlier in the season but walking near Route 7 is not the most peaceful thing to do so I tend to avoid it.
Twice a year I make my way into the marsh as far as I can go until halted by barberry and multiflora rose to hold at bay another grass, this one a giant compared to stiltgrass. Phragmites australis is a tall reed with a pouf of a seed head that is abundant in moist and wet areas everywhere in the US. It is so aggressive in wetlands that it quickly becomes a monoculture- a sea of swaying beige. It not only crowds out other plants but changes the pH of the surrounding soil and water so nothing native can grow in it. It is a real habitat killer. Drive on route 41 toward Sharon from Hotchkiss school and you will see a large field of phragmites on the left-hand side of the road. Once identified you cannot unsee how it has hijacked our landscape.
Thanks to my gardener’s help cutting down barberry, multiflora rose and honeysuckle in the marsh last winter, this year my access was greatly improved to a stand of phragmites-about a third of an acre of it. With each visit I cut down as much of it as I could to eliminate the possibility for it to grow a seed head. Though loathe to use an herbicide, last year I experimented on a small area, dabbing the cut ends with a wetlands ‘safe’ herbicide. (No herbicide is really safe for the environment but often the chemicals that are added to the herbicide to help it penetrate the leaves are especially damaging.) That application seemed to work so I may repeat it next year on another area.
With all invasives, getting rid of them when you see a first few pop up will pay off. That is what is happening on Cream Hill Road in Cornwall where a small stand of phragmites was recently cut under the water line, a natural technique that attempts to ‘drown’ the plant. The next step will be to cover with a black tarp any remaining phragmites that come back from this first effort. According to Heidi Cunnick, who chairs the Cornwall Conservation Commission, their new policy prioritizes the invasive plants for removal so that small infestations can be eliminated early. Cunnick reminds me that there is a biological control for phragmites that remains under review by a US government department but the future possibility of such an eradication method is not stopping activities to reduce populations- now - in Cornwall.
Another example of successful eradication comes from the Twin Lakes area; a couple who moved to a property that came with a quarter-acre of phragmites colonizing in and around their pond. They valiantly did the work themselves as they could not find anyone who would do it for them. A cut and tarp method was used here for the on-land plants; the ones underwater were cut a foot below the water surface over several years. While most is gone, the battle continues with stragglers; these are tackled with aquatic use herbicide using a dabber on the cut end of a stem or sprayed on a glove that is rubbed over the green stem.
It is hard to stay positive; the work can be hard and tiresome. And it is always a gamble that the area you are working on will grow in with native plants rather than with more invasives. Sometimes you clear a patch of barberry and it gets filled with stiltgrass; you try again. Sometimes you get a patch of goldenrod- nice to have but you don’t want it crowding out the other native plants. And sometimes you get a big reward- the discovery of natives so new to you that you can’t identify them without an app on your phone. In the marsh, where I worked as the weather turned cooler, I noticed quite a few new grasses popping out of the damp soil, especially where the weed torch had been used the prior year. So far, I have identified: Carex albursina, White bear sedge; Carex pedunculata, Longstalk sedge; Carex obnupta, Slough sedge; Carex pennsyvanica, Pennsylvania sedge; Carex frankii, Frank’s sedge; Carex blanda, Eastern woodland sedge; Carex eburnean, Bristleleaf sedge; Danthonia spicata, Poverty oatgrass; Deschampsia cespitosa, Tufted hairgrass; Glyceria striata, Fowl mannagrass and Leersia virginica, Whitegrass. The deer have already helped themselves to a few of these but I am hopeful to see most of them again.
Dee Salomon ‘ungardens’ in Litchfield County.
Roxana Robinson reads Cornwall, Nov. 30.
Bob Meyers, President and Publisher of the Cornwall Chronicle, kicked off the 5th annual Cornwall Reads Cornwall event at the UCC in Cornwall on Nov. 30 with a warm welcome and a gentle reminder to silence cell phones. Over the next hour, the audience was transported back in time as local writers, editors, luminaries, and students brought the Chronicle’s archives to life.
“This reading has become an annual event,” said Meyers, “as well as a welcome distraction from Thanksgiving leftovers.” He then noted that the event “was the original brainchild of Roxana Robinson.” Meyers added, “She also arranged to have this take place on the day of her birth,” at which point the audience wished the celebrated local author a happy birthday.
Before inviting Robinson to be the first reader, Meyers spoke a bit about the Chronicle’s history. The Cornwall Chronicle is a monthly, nonpartisan, nonprofit newspaper run by volunteers and funded entirely by reader donations. Founded in 1991 by Tom and Margaret Bevans, it was born out of Tom’s frustration with Cornwall’s lack of local press coverage. A graphic artist and former design head at Simon & Schuster, Tom shaped the paper’s timeless format and mission: fostering community understanding and civic engagement.
Over the years, leadership transitioned to Spencer and Bobby Klaw, retired editors from major publications, and later to an editorial board supported by a network of volunteer writers and artists. For 22 years, the Chronicle has been published without missing an issue, drawing contributions from both seasoned journalists and local voices like farmers and social workers. Delivered free to Cornwall residents and out-of-town subscribers, the ad-free paper relies solely on donations.
Robinson read the first piece, an article about snow plowing from December 1994. She was followed by Emmy Award-winning journalist and Cornwall resident Richard Schlesinger, who read a piece about grandmothers from a June 1992 edition. Robinson held the mic for local activist Nita Colgate as she read from a July 1998 issue of the Chronicle. Other readers included Gillian Blake, senior vice president, publisher, and editor-in-chief at Crown, a division of Penguin Random House.
Local students Willow Berry and Willa Lesch took turns reading a piece together, and recent Vassar graduate Gloria Trevor read a piece about snakes. Martin Chalk, board member of the Cornwall Conservation Trust and long-time Cornwall resident, read from a June 2017 edition of the Chronicle. Author Leigh Newman read a recent piece from August 2024, and CEO and founder of Five Acre Farms, Daniel Horan, read a piece from April 2024.
With each reading, the room was filled with the spirit of shared history, as tales of local lore, humor, and heartache unfolded. The event was a reminder of a simpler time and a celebration of Cornwall’s enduring love for its stories and the people who tell them.
Virag Mate-Kovacs at One Cream Studio in Millerton.
Located in the warm and welcoming multi-use building at 1 John Street in Millerton, One Cream Studio offers a personalized approach to skincare and self-care, led by Virag Mate-Kovacs, a highly skilled aesthetician with years of international experience.
Mate-Kovacs began her career in Budapest after graduating from a prestigious beauty academy in 2006. After years of honing her craft, she moved to Manhattan in 2010 to expand her skills and experiences.
“It was always my dream to come here (to the States), to make my life more interesting,” Mate-Kovacs recalled. Her time in New York City was busy and fulfilling, working in upscale spas with a variety of clients, including notable celebrities.
In 2021, Mate-Kovacs and her family relocated to Lakeville, seeking a quieter lifestyle. This change gave her the opportunity to open One Cream Studio in 2023, combining her expertise and passion into a business that reflects her vision for customized, thoughtful skincare treatments.
One Cream Studio offers a range of skincare services, from rejuvenating facials to advanced treatments using state-of-the-art machines. Mate-Kovacs takes pride in tailoring her services to individual needs. Her early work in Hungary focused on men’s skincare, which gave her a deep understanding of diverse skin concerns. “European men really take care of their hair, facials, nails—it’s a priority for their lifestyle,” she explained.
Over time, she has expanded her expertise to focus on women’s skincare as well, blending her knowledge with a unique perspective on holistic care. “People aren’t coming just for skin problems—they’re coming for their mental health as well. It’s a time for rest and personal conversations,” she shared.
Her approach has resonated with clients, from mothers in need of self-care to teenagers exploring skincare for the first time. Mate-Kovacs also understands the challenges of adapting treatments to local conditions. “People’s skin here is a lot drier. People spend a lot more time outside here so there’s more eczema and rosacea because of the temperature differences,” she said, recommending heavier creams for hydration during the winter months.
Opening her business in Millerton has brought new opportunities and strong connections. “1 John Street is such a great spot,” said Mate-Kovacs, praising the Millerton Business Association and a local women’s business network started by Abigail Horace of Casa Marcelo in Salisbury for their support. “We’re helping each other, sharing information, and building each other up.”
Mate-Kovacs is no stranger to personal challenges. Born with hearing loss, she communicates mostly through lip-reading and text. Her speaking voice is clear, however, and she takes care to make sure she is communicating accurately. Her space is incredibly calming and welcoming; one wants to curl up and take a long, herbal-scented nap. “My favorite thing is when clients fall asleep during a treatment. It makes me happy because they’re finally relaxed,” she shared.
One of Mate-Kovacs’s biggest goals is to encourage clients to make time for themselves in their busy lives. “You are being touched, which is really so important,” she said. Her focus is on creating an environment where clients feel cared for and with services designed for both regulars and weekend visitors, One Cream Studio continues to grow as a go-to destination for expert skincare.
Bookings can be made on Instagram (@onecreamstudio) or www.onecreamstudio.com
