S U M M E R 2016
Live like a local.
Kingston’s Next Act:
FILM INDUSTRY CITY STARRING
ENTREPRENEUR
MARY STUART MASTERSON
34 FARM SUPPER CLUB
56 VISIT SAUGE RT IE S
70 SECR E T CIT Y IN T H E COU NT RY
KASURI
SUMMER 2016
1
The 171st Dutchess County Fair Rhinebeck, NY
August 23 - August 28
THIRD EYE BLIND
With Special Guest!
PARMALEE
Tuesday - August 23 - 7:30pm
Wednesday - August 24 - 7:30pm
Special Advance Combo (Admission & Concert) = $30
Special Advance Combo (Admission & Concert) = $30
HOTEL CALIFORNIA
CHASE RICE
(The Original Tribute to the Eagles)
Thursday - August 25 - 7:30pm FREE SHOW
Friday - August 26 - 7:30pm Special Advance Combo (Admission & Concert) = $30
Advance Discount Tickets
NOW ON SALE
For Admission, Rides & Concert Tickets
dutchessfair.com For All Info upstater
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Welcome Back to the Catskills S p a c i o u s A c c o m m o d a t i o n s • D a y S p a & We l l n e s s C e n t e r • Wo o d n o t e s G r i l l e T h e C o u n t r y S t o r e s • Wo r l d ’s L a r g e s t K a l e i d o s c o p e O u t d o o r A d v e n t u r e s i n N a t u r e ’s P l a y g r o u n d Call or visit our website to plan your next Catskill Getaway!
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DISCOVER THE GOOD LIFE IN THE SULLIVAN CATSKILLS
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Summer Fling AT TH E
SATURDAY, JUNE 25 7PM DOORS
Simi Stone Band DJ C A R L O S T H E S U N
Music, Dancing, Libations. $2 0 A D M I S S I O N. FOR TICKETS & INFO F I S H E RC E N T E R . BA R D. E D U 60 M A N O R AV E A N NA N DA L E- O N-H U D S O N, N Y (8 4 5 ) 7 5 8 -7900
Photo by Cory Weaver
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2016 2 0 0 6 - 2 0 1 6
INSPIRING GENERATIONS THROUGH PEACE, LOVE & MUSIC
JUNE
JULY
29 ARETHA FRANKLIN
10-13 MYSTERYLAND 17
IN THE PAVILION
USA BARENAKED LADIES
30 HEART WITH
WITH OMD & HOWARD JONES IN THE PAVILION
18
DARYL HALL & JOHN OATES IN THE PAVILION
04 TOBY KEITH
WITH BRANDY CLARK
WITH DAVE MASON
IN THE PAVILION
IN THE PAVILION
05 COUNTING CROWS
JULY
BETHEL WOODS:
& ROB THOMAS
FREE
CELEBRATING A DECADE OF PEACE, LOVE & MUSIC
09 STEELY DAN WITH STEVE WINWOOD
IN THE PAVILION
14 JASON ALDEAN
WITH THOMAS RHETT & A THOUSAND HORSES
IN THE PAVILION
15 THE BEACH BOYS
& THE TEMPTATIONS IN THE PAVILION
16 JIM GAFFIGAN:
FULLY DRESSED
IN THE PAVILION
17 MICHAEL MCDONALD & AMERICA
IN THE PAVILION
20 TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND
The beautiful smile we create with you is the gateway to a healthy body
RONNIE SPECTOR
IN THE PAVILION
AUGUST
JOURNEY & THE DOOBIE BROTHERS
02 A GATHERING AT
IN THE PAVILION
31 DION WITH
WITH MAYER HAWTHORNE
24
JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS AND CHEAP TRICK
WITH LOS LOBOS & NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALL STARS
IN THE PAVILION
06 JERRY GARCIA SYMPHONIC CELEBRATION
FEATURING WARREN HAYNES AND THE HUDSON VALLEY PHILHARMONIC
IN THE PAVILION
07 PITBULL
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS IN THE PAVILION
14 DARIUS RUCKER WITH DAN+SHAY & MICHAEL RAY
IN THE PAVILION
20 INSMOKEY ROBINSON THE PAVILION 28 GAVIN DEGRAW
& ANDY GRAMMER WITH AARON TVEIT
IN THE PAVILION
SEPTEMBER
10 INDON HENLEY THE PAVILION
IN THE PAVILION
22 ZAC BROWN BAND
Drs. Maureen and Jeffrey Viglielmo Health Through Dentistry
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WITH DRAKE WHITE & THE BIG FIRE
IN THE PAVILION
24 INKIDZ BOP KIDS THE PAVILION Visit BethelWoodsCenter. org for complete calendar of events, including festivals, films, speakers, education and family programming, summer youth programs, and more!
2016 SPECIAL EXHIBIT:
RIGHTS, RACE & REVOLUTIONS
TICKETS AT
BETHELWOODSCENTER.ORG
Download
Our APP
By Phone 1.800.745.3000 | Bethel Woods Box Office | Ticketmaster.com | Info at 1.866.781.2922 Bethel Woods Center for the Arts is a not-for-profit cultural organization that inspires, educates, and empowers individuals through the arts and humanities. All dates, acts, times and ticket prices subject to change without notice. All ticket prices increase $5 on the day of show.
BWCA-Cal-UPSTATERMAG-2.indd 1
SUMMER 2016
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5/4/16 4:20 PM
Hudson Hewn: New York Furniture Now
April 16 – August 14, 2016 1601 Route 9D, Garrison, NY 10524 Boscobel.org 845.265.3638 Left: Duncan Phyfe, Grecian Easy Chair, c. 1815-20, Boscobel House and Gardens Right: Michael Robbins (Philmont), Wickson Armchair, 2015, Lent by Michael Robbins Image: Rob Penner Photography
Catskill Mountains Resort
The Premier Getaway in the Catskills The Catskill Mountains Resort is nestled on 40 rustic acres of landscaped countryside combining all the amenities of a Luxury Boutique hotel with the relaxed comforts of home. Choose between charming courtyard rooms, upscale Mansion House guest rooms, or treat yourself to a one or two bedroom suite in our luxury log cabins. Take advantage of our Olympic sized swimming pool, sports activities, arcade games, bicycling, ATV and hiking trails plus close proximity to the best fishing, kayaking, canoeing and rafting on the Delaware. In the Mansion House we offer a daily choice of gourmet fine dining at the Mountainside Restaurant or delicious comfort food at the Tavern. Scrumptious Sunday Brunch is served from Noon to 3 pm. Zac’s Modern Wilderness Lounge rounds out our offerings with lively night time dancing, drink specials and live entertainment. Event space also available for private parties, fundraisers and meetings. www.catskillmountainsresort.com 211 Mail Rd. Barryville, NY 12719 (845) 456-0195
14 upstater
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A washing immersion (as inlife. water ortogether steam) 1. An essentialorpart of your daily entertain toRelax bring it and all for our clients. noun and tolife. make thePassion new Kitchen journey 1.Aof An essential part yourPotential daily all or part theof body. Your • Our • Great Prices washing or of immersion (as in water or steam) KITCHENS....not just a place to washing immersion (as inlife. water or steam) IAsoak inpart theor bath for relaxation. 1. of An essential part of your daily all or of the body. Your Potential • Our Passion • Great Prices Cabinet Designers invites you to Personal, Intuitive bath [bath, bahth] KITCHENS....not just a place to of all or part of the body. A washing or immersion (as in water or steam) prepare food. a invites place to meet, soakquality in the or bath forof relaxation. 2.IThe state being covered withIt’s a liquid Cabinet Designers you to noun bath [bath, bahth] I soak in the bath for relaxation. LET OUROverwhelming. EXPERIENCE bath [bath, bahth] of all or part of the body. andfood. Less prepare It’s aentertain place to meet, 2. The quality orbath state ofrelaxation. being with a liquid noun 1. part of yourcovered daily life. Relax and soak inAn theessential for LET OUR EXPERIENCE noun bath [bath, 2.IThe quality or state ofbahth] being covered with a liquid KITCHENS • BATHS • CLOSETS BE YOUR A washing orpart immersion (as inlife. water orEXPERIENCE steam) in our1.locally owned full design center, Tap into Our Design Talent An essential of service your daily Relax and entertain noun 1. of Anall essential part of your daily life. 2. The quality ororstate of being covered with a liquid part of the body. Your Potential • Our Passion • Great Prices KITCHENS • BATHS • CLOSETS BE YOUR EXPERIENCE TILE • FLOORING • LOW VOC PAINT AAwashing or immersion (as ininwater or Your Potential in our locally owned full for service design center, washing immersion (as water orsteam) steam) * Our Passion I soak in theor bath relaxation. 1. locally An essential part of your daily life. in our owned full service design center, and see for yourself of all or part of the body. Your Potential • Our Passion • Great Prices TILE • FLOORING • LOW VOC PAINT SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS of all or part of the body.Your Potential Our Passion AThe washing or immersion (asGROWING incovered water or steam) * I soak in the bath for relaxation. 2. quality or state of being with a liquid AND OPERATED inSINCE AND STILL our locally full for service design center, I soakowned in the bath relaxation. SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS of all or part of the body. 2.2.The quality state being covered with aaliquid DEFINE YOUR The quality state being covered withSPACE liquid ILET soak inUS theoror bath forofof relaxation. SQUARE FOOT SHOWROOM AND SEE THE DIFFERENCE KITCHENS • BATHS • CLOSETS
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SUMMER 2016
15
TABLE of
CONTENTS
upstater SUMMER 2016
34 FEATURES
24 34 40 52 56 64 70 80 16 upstater
GETTING AROUND
48
Food + Drink
Farm & Table
Some of the residents of Heather Ridge Farm in Preston Hollow. Photo by Jim Maximowicz
28
Best of Both Worlds
Dutchess County offers world-class culture and landscapes. Story by Susan Piperato (SPONSORED CONTENT) FOOD + DRINK
Farm & Table
Heather Ridge Farm’s magical monthly supper club. Story by Eve Fox / Photos by Jim Maximowicz FOOD + DRINK
Flowing Both Ways
Upstate ingredients inspire Brooklyn distilleries. Story by Aliza Kellerman
Adaptation: Smorgasburg
HV PORTRAITS
THIS & THAT
HV HAPPENINGS
An old Kingston brickyard welcomes a Brooklyn phenomenon. Story by Susan Piperato / Photos by Roy Gumpel
20
MISSION STATEMENT
28
AQUANETTA WRIGHT
21
CHECK OUT OUR TEAM
32
YOUNG FARMERS COALITION
WEEKENDER
22
LOVE ME, LOVE MY NEMATODES
54
A local writer reveals the wonders of Saugerties. Story by Kandy Harris / Photos by Matthew Novak
27
BIANCA HILDENBRANDE/ SHANEKIA MCINTOSH
WEEKEND GETAWAY CONTEST
MARY STUART MASTERSON
30
62
OBJECTIFIED: RIDE-ON LAWN MOWER
78
MATT POND
50
FLOW CHART: START YOUR DAYTRIP
48
MAP: AN HV SUMMER OF EATING
96
LAST LOOK: TENTRR
Village of Subtle Treasures
AT HOME
The Kindness of Strangers
A mysterious master carpenter helps create an artist’s studio. Story by Timothy Malcolm / Photos by Deborah DeGraffenreid HV HAPPENINGS
A Secret City in the Country
An Obie-winning church of art wins converts. Story by Sari Botton REAL ESTATE
Great Setting for a Second Act
Relocating to Ossining opens up a family’s possibilities. Story by Kandy Harris / Photos by Eva Dietch
/ u p s t a t e r.c o m
Front cover: Photo by Matthew Novak This page: Hudson Valley map illustration by Jessica McGuirl; photo of Aquanetta Wright by Caylena Cahill.
ON THE COVER Actress-turned-entrepreneur Mary Stuart Masterson is the force behind Stockade Works, a Kingston-based production studio and trade school. For our cover, she is wearing a tunic designed by Rick Owens, cropped pants by Yohji Yamamoto, and shoes by Ann Demeulemeester, all courtesy of Kasuri, a fashion boutique located at 1 Warren Street in Hudson. kasuri.com
City weeks, country weekends, and garydimauro.com. It just doesn’t get any better than that. Elegant Lady of Rhinebeck Village
$1,150,000
C. 1860 4 BR/3 BA Folk Victorian, updated w/ central A/C, new BAs, renovated kitchen w/ Viking range & eating nook. Original moldings, 4 over 4 windows, wide board floors, plaster walls. Center hall separates 2 large living rooms & dining room. 7’ windows, pocket doors, wood-burning fireplace.
❚ Adelia Geiger 845.757.5000 x12
Creekside Modern
$745,000
Stylish modern 4 BR/ 2 BA in Stockport w/ views of the Stockport Creek from every window, 110 feet of accessible water frontage. Secluded & surrounded by nature. IG pool, patio and dining deck. Floor-to-ceiling glass sliders flood the open plan living space with all-day light. All new mechanical systems along with cement board siding, metal roof, central air and iron wood stove.
❚ David Ludwig 518.943.7533 x11
Pleasant Valley Retreat
$645,000
Surrounded by a landscaped sanctuary, turnof-the-century 4 BR/2 BA farmhouse withmodern amenities. Light-filled sitting room with wood stove, open chef’s kitchen withCarrera marble countertops. Vaulted ceiling family room with fireplace, private master suite with renovated spa bath. Large private pool area with outdoor shower.
❚ Rachel Hyman-Rouse 917.686.4906
Belle of Washington Street $459,000
Grande Victorian just north of Hudson’s Warren St. Elegant entryway, high ceilings and impressive staircase. 3 BR/2.5 BA, beautifully renovated and restored, modern amenities, original details. Bull’s eye moldings, 3 Eastlake mantels, pocket doors, pressed tin ceiling, curved plaster walls, pine floors throughout, wrap-around porch.
❚ Kathy Duffy 518.822.0800 x11
Jewett Neo-Modern
$369,000
Spacious light-filled rooms & energy efficient w/ earth shelter and passive solar design facing the northern Catskills. Formal entry, open living/dining, vaulted ceiling & wall of windows w/ mountain views. 3 BR/1 BA, master w/ private patio & balcony. Original 1969 structure renovated in 2003. Min. to Hunter & Windham ski areas.
❚ Pamela Belfor 917.734.7142
Farmhouse Perfection
$299,900
Nothing to do but unpack for the weekend or for the rest of your life. Roomy 3 BR/2.5 BA farmhouse, completely renovated, sits on a knoll above a quiet county route in New Baltimore. Spectacular master with ensuite BA. Gorgeous property with meadows, spring fed pond and lots of room for your veggie garden.
❚ Susan Barnett 518.943.7533 x13
Tivoli NY • Hudson NY • Catskill NY • Rhinebeck NY
garydimauro.com SUMMER 2016
17
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S U M M E R 2016
Live like a local.
We’re all over this big city — you never know where we’ll turn up next.
SUBSCRIBE TODAY. VISIT US AT Kingston’s Next Act:
FILM INDUSTRY CITY STARRING
ENTREPRENEUR
MARY STUART MASTERSON
34 FARM SUPPER CLUB
54 VI SI T SAUGERTI ES
70 SECRET CI TY I N TH E COUNTRY
upstater.com/ subscribe
.com upstater
E V E R Y D AY
One of Kandy Harris’s daytrip destinations: Grossinger’s Resort in Liberty, Sullivan County
WEIRD DAYTRIPS: KANDY’S PHOTO COMPENDIUM OF STRANGE HUDSON VALLEY PLACES
LIFE IS NEVER BORING IN ULSTER COUNTY
By Kandy Harris
By Haynes Llewellyn
I’ve been to a lot of weird places in the Hudson Valley and Catskills. I’ve crawled through crumbling, abandoned factories along the Hudson River; shambled along unstable floors in dilapidated midcentury Catskill resorts; and definitely trespassed more than once (mostly unintentionally) in order to find an old graveyard, gutted 19th-century stone church, or remnants of a ghost town / former mining community / youth baseball camp. I can’t help myself. The beauty of ruination entices me. upstater.com/weird-day-trips
ACCREDITED LAND TRUSTS ABOUND IN THE MID-HUDSON REGION By Gregg Swanzey
Across America, citizens and communities have formed more than 1,700 land trusts and worked with willing landowners to conserve more than 47 million acres of farms, forests, parks, and other open spaces. They are actively involved in countless trail and rail trail projects as well. However, only 342 land trusts in the United States are accredited, which means they meet national standards for excellence, uphold the public trust, and ensure conservation efforts are permanent. The accreditation seal is a mark of distinction. upstater.com/accredited-land-trusts-abound-mid-hudson-region/
Inevitably it happens every Saturday morning around 7:45 a.m. Mind you, for most, Saturday morning is a time of tranquil relaxation, a time to sleep, and a time not to be awakened! That is of course unless you live with Gary Swenson. For me, Saturday morning is the hatching ground for the tireless debate of where we’re having coffee and breakfast (I am not a breakfast cook). Almost instantaneously, Mister Frazier and Heather Clementine, like any wise Scottish terriers would, scurry to the far corners of the bed, as the battle royal is launched yet again. upstater.com/life-never-boring-ulster-county/
IMPRESSIONS FROM THE WOODSTOCK WRITERS FESTIVAL By Simona David
The Woodstock Writers Festival counted its seventh season this April and brought in writers of the highest caliber, as it does every year. Ann Hood, who teaches at The New School and is the author of six works of fiction, including An Italian Wife, moderated the festival’s Fiction Panel called “What If?” Panelists included: Maggie Mitchell, author of Pretty Is, What Was Mine author Helen Klein Ross; Sunil Yapa, author of Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist; and Robert Burke Warren, whose debut novel Perfectly Broken was published by The Story Plant in March 2016. upstater.com/impressions-woodstock-writers-festival/ SUMMER 2016
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EDITORIAL EDITOR
Susan Piperato susan@luminarymedia.com ART DIRECTOR
Jim Maximowicz jmaximowicz@luminarymedia.com CARTOON EDITOR
Carolita Johnson carolitajohnson@gmail.com PROOFREADER
Barbara Ross
In the light of summer, WE SEE THE BEST OF WHAT COULD BE.
THE BEST MAY OR MAY NOT COME TO PASS, BUT what happens in summer
IS NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN. MOMENTS heighten, EVERYTHING ripens.
WE CAN LIVE as if ENTIRELY NEW,
exuberant, poetic, and daring. FOLLOW THE
THE BREEZE THE SHADOWSCLOUDSTHEBIRDS
THE fireflies AND butterflies,
TRAILS OF LAUGHTER.
Pick wildflowers, PERHAPS EVEN WEAR THEM.
PLUCK FRUIT FROM THE VINE. THE FLAVOR OF WHATEVER YOU EAT WILL
BURST
IN YOUR MOUTH AND STAY WITH YOU.
Cup freshwater in the palms of your hands.
HOLD ONTO THE HEAT EXPERIENCE WHATEVER COMES TO FORE.
Take summer into your own hands. LIVE LIKE A LOCAL
20 upstater
/ u p s t a t e r.c o m
CONTRIBUTORS
Peter Aaron, Sari Botton, Caylena Cahill, Linda Codega, Jason Cring, Brian PJ Cronin, Deborah DeGraffenreid, Eva Deitch, Eve Fox, Roy Gumpel, Kandy Harris, Nicole Hitner, Aliza Kellerman, Timothy Malcolm, Peter D. Martin, Jessica McGuirl, Matthew Novak, Pamela Ashley Pasco, Leander Schaerlaeckens, Nina Shengold
PUBLISHING FOUNDERS & PUBLISHERS
Amara Projansky & Jason Stern CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Amara Projansky
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Brian K. Mahoney CHAIRMAN
David Dell Upstater is a project of Luminary Media.
ADVERTISING SALES (845) 334-8600 X106 DIRECTOR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & SALES
Julian Lesser jlesser@luminarymedia.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Paul Hope phope@luminarymedia.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Ralph Jenkins rjenkins@luminarymedia.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Anne Wygal awygal@luminarymedia.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Bartek Starodaj bstarodaj@luminarymedia.com SALES & MARKETING COORDINATOR
Samantha Benedict sbenedict@luminarymedia.com
ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR OF EVENTS & SPECIAL PROJECTS MANAGER
Samantha Liotta samantha@luminarymedia.com OFFICE MANAGER
Peter D. Martin peter@luminarymedia.com BOOKKEEPER
Molly Rausch accounting@luminarymedia.com
DIGITAL DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION & DIGITAL STRATEGY
Teal Hutton teal@luminarymedia.com
PRODUCTION PRODUCTION MANAGER
Sean Hansen sean@luminarymedia.com PRODUCTION DESIGNERS
Linda Codega Nicole Tagliaferro Kerry Tinger
LUMINARY MEDIA 314 Wall Street, Kingston, NY 12401 (845) 334-8600 | fax (845) 334-8610 luminarymedia.com All contents Š Luminary Media Inc. 2016 For extended coverage of the upstater lifestyle, join us at upstater.com. Upstater was founded in 2011 and acts as a guide for living, buying, renting, and vacationing in upstate New York. Our writers have hearts, mortgages, and legacies in the Hudson Valley.
CHE C K O U T O U R
TEAM LOOK FOR CONTENT BETWEEN ISSUES FROM YOUR FAVORITE CONTRIBUTORS AT upstater.com.
Sari Botton is a writer, editor, and teacher living in Kingston. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, New York Magazine, The Village Voice, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, and other publications. She is the editor of the anthologies Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York and Never Can Say Goodbye: Writers on Their Unshakable Love for New York as well as a columnist at The Rumpus and Longreads, and the editorial director for the nonprofit TMI Project. upstater.com/contributors/saribotton
Eve Fox lives in Woodstock, where she writes about growing, foraging, cooking, and eating good food for publications, including Edible Hudson Valley, Civil Eats, the Christian Science Monitor, Chronogram, and Hudson Valley Magazine. She blogs at TheGardenofEating.com. upstater.com/contributors/evefox
Aliza Kellerman writes about booze and other hedonistic pleasures. She lives in New York with her fiancé and their brazen pug, Gimlet. Find her at AlizaDrinks and on Twitter @ aleezabeeza. upstater.com/contributors/alizakellerman
Timothy Malcolm is an awardwinning lifestyles and arts writer whose work has been featured online at PopMatters, and in Chronogram, Orange Magazine, and the Middletown Times Herald-Record, among other publications. He’s based in Westchester County, and regularly hikes as well as samples local breweries. upstater.com/contributors/ timothymalcolm
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CARTOON
I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y C A R O L I TA J O H N S O N
S E E MOR E U PSTATE R CARTOON S AT
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upstater.com/cartoons
summer season june 18 – august 7
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SUMMER 2016
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GETTING AROUND
S T O RY B Y S U S A N P I P E R AT O
BESTof BOTH WORLDS Dutchess County offers history and world-class culture amid a picturesque landscape.
T
he push-pull between New York City and the Hudson Valley is so strong that residents of either place often have a hard time choosing one over the other because each area has so much to offer. But when it comes to Dutchess County, the choice is much easier, because the county offers both metropolitan sophistication and rural charm. Located within a 30-mile radius in Dutchess County’s center, amid a bucolic landscape, are several world-class cultural institu24 upstater
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tions featuring outdoor areas to enjoy along with their historical and artistic treasures. So, instead of spending a whole day rushing through crowds and standing on long lines to see a single city museum, visitors to Dutchess County can fit in a few three places in one day—viewing the spectacular terrain, including the Taconics; the Hudson Highlands; plenty of rolling hills, woodlands, and farmland; and, of course, the Hudson River itself.
From top: The entrance to the home of Franklin D. Roosevelt in Hyde Park; Eleanor Roosevelt’s former retreat in Hyde Park, known as Val-Kill. Opposite: Dia:Beacon.
DIA:BEACON
Home to a permanent collection of 1960s and 1970s art, Dia:Beacon opened on the banks of the Hudson River in 2003. Founded by the Dia Art Foundation to support artists with the potential to change perceptions of art and the world, Dia:Beacon’s exhibitions run from one to two years and are designed to be seen in natural light, allowing for differences in appearance throughout the day, and inviting daylong and repeat visits. Because of this and its extensive outdoor visitors’ garden, Dia:Beacon stands apart from many other art institutions— even its New York City counterpart, Dia:Chelsea. Dia:Beacon recently opened updated permanent exhibitions of Bruce Naumann and Dan Flavin. Its newest exhibition, “I Ching,” is a monumental sculpture commissioned of the late Walter De Maria, made of wooden rods representing the ancient Chinese mystical text, in a 10,000-square-foot space. In collaboration with Dia:Chelsea, Dia:Beacon is also hosting commissioned artist Isabel Lewis’s “Occasions and Other Occurrences,” a multisensational experience encompassing dance, food, scent, music, and spoken-word performances, over four consecutive weekends between June 24 and July 17. Each weekend will begin in Chelsea on Friday and move to Beacon for Saturday and Sunday. One of Lewis’s performances will coincide with Dia:Beacon’s seasonal Free Community Day, held on July 9, admitting Hudson Valley residents for free and offering special workshops, family activities, gallery talks, and tours.
HOME OF FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE, HYDE PARK President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s belief that the
government’s purpose is to serve the people launched an institution that has educated and inspired people from all over the world for generations. On June 30, the Presidential Library and Museum— the first of its kind in America—observes its 75th anniversary. The updated museum offers interactive exhibits; tours of FDR’s home, where he grew up and from which he campaigned to become the 32nd president; Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt’s graves (including a lifesize statue of Fala, FDR’s faithful Scottish terrier); an annual Roosevelt Reading Festival (June 18); a renovated café; and bountiful lawns, perched on a cliff overlooking the Hudson River.
HOME OF ELEANOR ROOSEVELT NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE, HYDE PARK
Eleanor Roosevelt’s Stone Cottage, also called Val-Kill, provided her with a quiet retreat from politics and family domesticity; today, it’s a museum chronicling her early political life. Val-kill’s scenic grounds include a rustic wooden bridge and “Eleanor’s Walk,” a trail she walked with her Scottish terriers. Hikers can traverse the site’s extensive trails linking to FDR’s home and the Presidential Library and Museum as well as Top Cottage, FDR’s retreat, and the Vanderbilt Mansion.
DUTCHESS COUNTY GIVEAWAY CONTEST PARTICIPATING BUSINESSES & ATTRACTIONS
DINING
ACCOMMODATION
Crave Restaurant and Lounge, Poughkeepsie
Holiday Inn Express, Poughkeepsie
Rabbit and Turtle Pub & Restaurant, Poughkeepsie
TOURS FOR TWO
TOURS AND TASTINGS FOR TWO Madava Farms, makers of Crown Maple Syrup Clinton Vineyards, Clinton Corners Millbrook Vineyards & Winery, Millbrook
Locust Grove Estate, Poughkeepsie: Home and Museum of Samuel Morse Mt. Gulian Historic Site, Beacon: 18th-century Dutch Homestead Wilderstein, Rhinebeck: Home of FDR cousin and confidante Daisy Suckley
SEE GETAWAY CONTEST AD ON PAGE 27 SUMMER 2016
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In the center of the Walkway Over the Hudson, with the Mid-Hudson Bridge in the background.
WALKWAY OVER THE HUDSON STATE HISTORIC PARK, POUGHKEEPSIE
Not only is the Walkway—a steel cantilever bridge spanning the Hudson River between Poughkeepsie and Highland—a one-of-akind outdoor experience, but the park, which opened in 2009, is an easy walk or bike ride away from parks, museums, shopping, and restaurants. What’s more, the historic Walkway, which opened in 1888 as the world’s longest bridge, is at the center of a growing rail trail network that extends in all directions throughout Dutchess and Ulster Counties, enabling cyclists and hikers to spend time exploring both sides of the Hudson River. Summer activities at the Walkway include the 2016 Walkway Marathon (June 11-12), Independence Day Fireworks Spectacular (July 2), Balloon Festival (July 8), Dragon Boat Races (July 23), Movie Nights Under the Walkway (held at Upper Landing Park, June 24, July 9 and 23, August 6 and 20), and Moonwalks ($5 charge for nonmembers, July 16, August 19, September 16).
Behind the scenes at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park.
THE CULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA Counted among the world’s
top cooking colleges, the Culinary Institute of America is also one of the Hudson Valley’s premier destinations. Situated in a former Jesuit monastery in Hyde Park, the CIA’s campus overlooks the Hudson River and includes historic architecture, rolling hills, woodlands, and sweeping vistas. Visitors can enjoy a meal at several awardwinning restaurants run by students under the guidance of expert chef-instructors: the casually elegant American Bounty focuses on contemporary and traditional regional dishes prepared with farm-totable produce; the sleek, modern Bocuse Restaurant reinvents classic French cuisine inspired by France’s most famous chef, Paul Bocuse; Pangea offers global fare with urban flair, focusing on plant-based meals with thoughtful use of meats and seafood; and Ristorante Caterina de’ Medici, housed in a Tuscan villa overlooking both the Hudson River and a rose and herb garden, offers authentic regional Italian cuisine. For lunch, both the casual Al Forno Trattoria, serving wood-oven pizza and other rustic Italian fare, and the Apple Pie Bakery Café, showcasing the work of CIA’s baking and pastry arts department, are favorite spots. Following dinner, guests can also enjoy theater productions by Half Moon Theatre at CIA’s new 800seat Ecolab Auditorium, and the public is welcome at charity dining events, held by students to raise funds for scholarships and special programs, on June 11 and 18 and July 9. u
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WANT A WEEKEND GETAWAY IN DUTCHESS COUNTY? ENTER TO WIN AT
upstater.com/dutchess-getaway
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WEEKEND GETAWAY IN DUTCHESS COUNTY
U P S TA T E R . C O M / D U T C H E S S - G E TA WA Y Wine, dine, tour & stay in beautiful Dutchess County...on us!
DUTCHESS COUNTY GIVE-AWAY AD
PARTICIPATING LOCATIONS INCLUDE
Locust Grove
The Samuel Morse Historic Site
Read all the details at upstater.com/dutchess-getaway and enter to win. Rules and restrictions may apply.
Mount Gulian HISTORIC SITE
SUMMER 2016
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Photo by Caylena Cahill
AQUANETTA WRIGHT PRODUCER, PROMOTER, AND ARTISTS MANAGER HOMETOWN: Harlem MOVED TO HUDSON VALLEY IN: 1997 LIVES IN: Newburgh GREATEST IRONY: Although she organized Christmas caroling on the Newburgh-Beacon ferry, she never sang herself. “Trust me,” she says. “You don’t want to hear me sing.”
N
ewburgh needed help. Well, that’s probably an understatement. The old Orange County city is as plentiful in its potential, architecture, and sweeping Hudson River views as it is in festering problems. Drugs, crime, unemployment, tax-base contraction, yadda yadda yadda—you’ve heard it all before. Growing up in Harlem, Aquanetta Wright certainly had. So, having transplanted herself in Newburgh, she decided to do her part. Wright moved up from New York City to New Windsor in 1997, and then started what is believed to be Orange County’s first LGBT organization, the Rainbow Elite. “There was a big issue happening with the Boy Scouts at the time,” Wright recalls, and she felt her community lacked representation. Soon enough, she found herself owning property and getting deeply involved in local politics in Newburgh, where the first female black mayor, Audrey Carey, had been elected in 1991. In 15 years, during which Wright recognized the same issues of urban blight she had witnessed in Harlem, she missed just three city council meetings. But Wright never actually ran for a seat on the council, and was beaten by the incumbent the one time she campaigned for county legislator. While serving on various committees and commissions, Wright figured her best chance of making a contribution lay elsewhere. “We all have a role to play, in my opinion, in how we’re going to help support change,” she says. “While the city was doing what they did, while the city council talked about infrastructure and housing and jobs, I could do two things well: talk and connect.” Wright had spent more than a decade working at the YMCA in Manhattan, organizing events and fundraisers. So when the Newburgh-
Aquanetta Wright at the Newburgh-Beacon Ferry, the namesake of her company, Ferry Godmother Productions.
Beacon ferry resumed service in 2005, she seized the chance to begin putting on community events. On the landing, she began holding art shows, music concerts, and even Christmas caroling sessions. Soon enough, the ferry captain gave her a nickname: the “Ferry Godmother.” “The name sort of stuck,” says Wright. The ferry events were such a success that, in 2007, Wright began an ambitious jazz series on the Newburgh waterfront at Unico Park. The motive wasn’t entirely altruistic, though. Wright, who owned an art gallery in Newburgh at the time, had a closet full of gowns and nowhere to wear them. In a small way, her sartorial challenge begat the concerts. But that was hardly the biggest factor. “I felt that we needed something that would put the City of Newburgh on the map in a positive way,” she says. That she did. That summer, she put on 17 free jazz concerts—small ensembles on Wednesdays, big bands on Thursdays—drawing an average of 400 people, with some acts pulling in over 1,000. People from all stripes of life began showing up in Newburgh, from as far away as New York City and Albany. Sponsors and partners covered costs and some booths sold handmade artwork. But the jazz series didn’t just bring in people from outside of Newburgh. Just as important, the events connected a somewhat divided city. A lot of locals never went to the waterfront—the train bridge forms a physical barrier of sorts. “A lot of people felt disconnected from the waterfront,” Wright says. Not all Newburghers can afford the restaurants on the other side of the tracks, which caters mainly to tourists. But the concerts gave everybody a reason to cross the boundary and enjoy a show together. Wright’s efforts made Newburgh a musical destination; the average attendance has been steady at some 500 spectators per concert since, and the music series has expanded to include pop, rock, and doo wop. In fact, even though the series moved to the Arboretum at Thomas Bull Memorial Park in 2011 (due to parking issues by the waterfront), attendance remains strong. —Leander Schaerlaeckens
Find out more about what Aquanetta Wright loves about Newburgh
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upstater.com/what-aquanetta-wright-loves-about-newburgh 28 upstater
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Escape to Woodstock
Where Nature and the Arts Meet
Festivals, Theater, Art and Music Experience our rich
and diverse heritage.
Enjoy Restaurants and Unique Shops Some of
the Hudson Valley’s best.
Find a Lodging That is Just Right for You B&Bs,
Apartments and houses, from simple to very luxurious.
Hike, Bike, Swim Take
in spectacular scenery on our numerous trails, rivers and mountains.
Relax, Renew and Regenerate Mind & Body Spas, yoga, golf,
meditation and so much more available in this most famous
small town in the world.
www.woodstockchamber.com events • dining • lodging • shopping • more
Summer Theatre Festival 2016 A Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area Iconic Site of American Theatre and Music History
June 21 thru August 21 103 Mill Hill Road, Woodstock, NY 12498
Shows this season are: Guys and Dolls June 17 - July 3 Beauty and the Beast July 8 - 24 Pippin August 5 - 21
www.WoodstockPlayhouse.org 845-679-6900
SUMMER 2016
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OBJECTIFIED
S T O RY B Y P E T E R D . M A RT I N / I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y J A S O N C R I N G
MOW ON
Upstate living comes with everything you’d expect and plenty of stuff you don’t. Like, do you want
to drive from your secluded converted barn to the grocery store? You’re gonna need a car. And, come winter, do you want to dig said car out of several feet of snow so you can get out of the house and escape cabin fever? Now you’ll need a shovel. But when it comes time to manicure your lawn, you’ve got some options to consider. Back in the city, you probably waxed idyllic about primping each blade of grass with handforged Japanese pruning shears, or daydreamed about schlepping a hand-pushed vintage reel mower for the perfect cut. Well, get ready for an awakening. Lawn mowing is a thankless slog the likes of which would make Sisyphus shoot sidelong, glowering glances at the green stuff, muttering, “Yeah, I think I’m good with my rock here, thanks.” You’ll be lucky to last a season behind that push mower before thinking about how abandoned your house could really look if you let the whole darn lawn grow unchecked. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There’s a third path, excessive and indulgent though it is, but we’ll brave
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Promethean punishment to clue you in: Get a ride-on mower. Is that unforgivably lazy? Yes. Will it cause you to question your highfalutin morals and ideals? You bet. But is it worth it? Definitely. The ride-on mower shifts property maintenance from a miserable, seemingly never-ending chore to a glorious opportunity to survey your estate from atop two raging cylinders of iron. Feel the wind in your hair as you sit back on your plastic throne, sipping lawn soda as you make short work of what was once a sweat-inducing bore. Sure, fatigue is still one of the task’s perils, but now your exhaustion can be brought on by the soothing-yet-virile purr of 20-plus American horsepower and the familiar foibles of drinking in the sun. So give in to the ride-on mower. Forget who you thought you were, and gorge yourself wantonly on this machine’s forbidden fruit. Is this thing abhorrent? Indubitably. But if the ride-on mower is wrong, believe us, by the time midsummer rolls around, you just won’t want to be right.
LOVE OBJECTIFICATION? SEE MORE AT
upstater.com/objectified
VENN DIAGRAM
VENNVENN DIAGRAM VENN DIAGRAM DIAGRAM
NATURE
NATURE NATURE NATURE
POSSESSION
POSSESSION POSSESSION POSSESSION
PRIDE
PRIDE PRIDE PRIDE
MANOR MANOR MANOR MANOR
YARD YARD YARD YARD
LAWN LAWN LAWN LAWN MAINTENANCE MAINTENANCE MAINTENANCE MAINTENANCE BLADES BLADES BLADES BLADES
DOMINATION DOMINATION DOMINATION DOMINATION
SWAGGER SWAGGER SWAGGER SWAGGER
COMMAND COMMAND COMMAND COMMAND
POWER POWER POWER POWER
WAR WAR WAR WAR
TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY
BY THE NUMBERS BY THE NUMBERS BY THEBY NUMBERS THE NUMBERS
BY THE NUMBERS
% 20 68,000 % % 20 68,000 20 68,000 % 20 68,000
of homeowners rely on lawn care pros to take care of their lawn. of homeowners rely on lawn care pros of homeowners rely on lawn care pros to take care of their lawn. to take care of their lawn.
of homeowners rely on lawn care pros to take care of their lawn.
lawnmowing–related injuries occur every year on average. lawnmowing–related injuries occur lawn mowing-related injuries occur every year on average. every year on average.
lawnmowing–related injuries occur every year on average.
208 208 208 208
The average amount of hours that Americans spend taking care of their lawns per year. The average amount of hours that Americans The amount of hours per year that Americans spend taking care of their lawns per year. spend taking care of their lawn on average.
The average amount of hours that Americans spend taking care of their lawns per year.
CASE STUDIES CASE STUDIES CASE CASE STUDIES STUDIES
CASE STUDIES
For those looking to double down on their carbon footprint while simultaneously removing the intended function of their lawnmower, For those looking to double down on their For this those looking totractor double down onthe their customized embodies freedom carbon footprint while simultaneously removing of badwhile decision making. carbon footprint simultaneously the intended function of their lawnmower, removing the intended function of their this customized tractor embodies the freedom lawnmower, of bad decision making. this customized embodies thetheir For those looking totractor double down on freedom of bad simultaneously decision-making.removing carbon footprint while
the intended function of their lawnmower,
There’s no going back once you commit to this unholy marriage of a bicycle with a reel mower. Fittingly, its limited turning radius creates a user There’s no going back once you commit to this There’s no goingthat back once you commit to this experience mirrors a slow spiral into a unholy marriage of a bicycle with a reel mower. lifestyleofofaimpractical idealism. unholy marriage bicycle with a reel mower. Fittingly, its limited turning radius creates a user Fittingly, its limited turning radius creates a user experience that mirrors a slow spiral into a experience that mirrors a slow spiral into a lifestyle of impractical idealism. lifestyle of impractical idealism. There’s no going back once you commit to this
unholy marriage of a bicycle with a reel mower. Fittingly, its limited turning radius creates a user
The age of effortless lawn care has arrived! This smart phone–monitored robotic mower cuts with precision, knows when it needs to be The age of effortless lawn care has arrived! The ageand of effortless lawn care has charged, will let nothing get in thearrived! way of This smart phone–monitored robotic mower its mission. Nothing. This smart phone-monitored robotic mower cuts with precision, knows when it needs to be cuts with precision, knows when it needs to be charged, and will let nothing get in the way of charged, and will let nothing get in the way of its mission. Nothing. mission. Nothing. The its age of effortless lawn care has arrived! S U M M E R 2 0 1 6 31
This smart phone–monitored robotic mowe cuts with precision, knows when it needs to b
Photo by Eva Deitch
NATIONAL YOUNG FARMERS COALITION
L
et’s say you’ve been dreaming of starting an organic CSA farm, but you don’t have the money. Or you’ve been wholesaling flowers for a few years, but need extra hands for a “crop mob.” Or you’re a weekender with unused acres and you want to find someone to plant a cash crop, or a chef who wants to source local produce and grass-fed meats. Where do you turn? Meet the National Young Farmers Coalition, headquartered in Hudson. Founded in 2009 by Lindsay Lusher-Shute and two fellow Hudson Valley farmers, the networking organization has grown exponentially, with 30 chapters nationwide, more than 1,500 duespaying members and 65,000 supporters, and a dynamic presence in national food politics. Lusher-Shute, now NYCF’s executive director, recently gave a TEDx talk on “Building a Future with Farmers.” Most of NYFC’s staff live locally, with others based in Colorado, Brooklyn, and Washington, D.C. National field director Sophie Ackoff works in the ground-floor office on Hudson’s trendy Warren Street. Near her desk is a poster from the Hudson Valley Farmers Forum, her first volunteer project with NYFC. “Over 50 farmers met with our state and federal elected officials to make their voices heard in the Farm Bill process,” she reports proudly. Among them was Congressman Chris Gibson, who’s introduced a proposal to add farmers to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, enabling young people to start farms without the burden of student debt. Ackoff notes that the last agricultural census lists the average age of American farmers as 58, with only 6 percent under 35. “Farmers are ageing out and retiring,” says Ackoff. “We don’t have enough young farmers to take their place, and family farms are transitioning into nonfarmland or corporate farmland. The future of our country’s food supply depends on a new generation.” Ackoff is co-organizer of NYCF’s Hudson Valley chapter, which offers monthly events during the growing season, which included a May 28 spring mixer at Columbia County’s Kinderhook Farms, followed by farm tour/potlucks at Copake’s Sparrow Arc Farm,
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National Young Farmers Coalition founder Lindsay Lusher-Shute (left) with Sophie Ackoff, the nonprofit’s national field director, at NYFC member Hearty Roots Farm in Germantown.
Millerton’s Rock Steady Farm & Flowers, Germantown’s Four Legs Farm, and Grafton’s Soul Fire Farm, a social-justice-centered family farm. “We are committed to ensuring that the next generation of farmers puts food justice and racial equity at the center of the work,” says Soul Fire co-owner Leah Penniman. “We are excited to be hosting a tour and facilitating an undoing-oppression training for these dedicated young farmers.” “We need to be inspired, to meet new people, to laugh, to share our struggles and lean against one another,” says Rock Steady’s Maggie Cheney. Four Legs Farms’ Leanna Mulvihill agrees. “It’s powerful to be part of the Young Farmer community here. It makes me feel like I’m not alone.” “We’re in a very lucky place in the country—there are so many new farms starting up,” explains Ackoff. “We’re close to the city; there are great markets.” And the farm-to-table, buy-local ethos is part of the Hudson Valley’s burgeoning restaurant and green-market culture. Local farms are hot, and so are local farmers: Chronogram magazine recently ran a fashion spread using farmers as models, and photographer Francesco Mastalia’s organic farmer portraits have been exhibited in galleries and at Manhattan’s South Street Seaport. In April, actor/filmmakers Mary Stuart Masterson and Jeremy Davidson’s documentary theater piece “Good Dirt,” created from interviews with six Dutchess County farm families, was performed by a high-profile cast at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, with a farm-catered afterparty. Proceeds benefitted NYFC. Do you need to be a farmer to join NYFC or attend its events? Not at all. If you eat, you’re already a part of a growing community. “People on every rung of the food-supply chain are welcome—farmers, aspiring farmers, chefs, green-market customers—anyone who cares about food,” Ackoff says. —Nina Shengold
WANT TO BE A FARMER? FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN THE COALITION AT
upstater.com/become-a-coalition-farmer
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FOOD + DRINK
S T O RY B Y E V E F O X | P H O T O S B Y J I M M A X I M O W I C Z
FARM & TABLE Heather Ridge Farm’s magical monthly supper club.
T
here's a gem of a farm perched just below the summit of Scott Patent Mountain in Schoharie County—300-plus acres of hilly fields and antique apple orchards that are home to farmers Carol Clement and John Harrison's alpacas, sheep, pigs, cows, goats, chickens, guinea hens, turkeys, bees, and a donkey named Sheila. Under the watchful eyes of Clement and Harrison, this small kingdom flourishes, thanks to a system of intensive rotational grazing that allows the animals to move to fresh pasture on a regular basis, giving the land time to replenish itself and providing plenty of fresh feed for the various
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species to munch on. No hormones, no antibiotics, and everything the farm produces is certified Animal Welfare Approved. The result is healthy, happy animals that yield lean, flavorful meats when their time here in this idyllic place draws to a close. Once or twice a month, the farm hosts a remarkably delicious five-course tasting supper starring farm-raised meats and seasonal specialty ingredients foraged for and prepared by chef Rob Handel, as well as fruits, vegetables, and cheeses from several local farms. In the summer, they set up outside, in the winter, they serve in the farmhouse's small dining room, but either way, it's a special experience.
A COZY FARMHOUSE
The sun is beginning to set as I arrive, but it's still light enough out to take in the charming, yellow farmhouse perched on the hillside. The house probably looks much the same as it did when it was built in the early 1800s, with the exception of the massive solar array that steps up the hill along its left side. Just outside the door, a brindled gray cat gives a friendly meow before rolling over a few times under the hydrangea bush in welcome. Inside, three tables are set in the farm's small, square dining room. The chair backs are draped with sheepskins in a variety of lengths and colors—mine is the luxuriously soft skin of an Icelandic sheep with long, black wool. A lively buzz of conversation fills the air and the atmosphere is warm and welcoming, a tone set by Clement, a wiry, white-haired woman in her late 60s who is supremely comfortable with herself and her guests. I'm seated across from a fellow named Dwight who confides that Clement has a positive genius for seating arrangements—he's eaten at previous farm suppers with a Finnish sheep herder, a concert flutist, and an artist in residence at the SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) Institute. Next to Dwight is Clement's husband, Harrison, a salt-of-the-earth Irish guy who grew up in the Bronx and is the kind of effortless storyteller who can make anything interesting.
Above: The modernized farmhouse is home to the Heather Ridge Farm Store and the Bees Knees Café, which hosts supper club meals as well as weekend brunches. Left: Farm owner Carol Clement converses with guests before supper is served. Opposite: Alpacas greet visitors on a tour of the farm. SUMMER 2016
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Clockwise from top: Preparing the asparagus; Chef Rob Handel prepares the lamb ribs, raised at Heather Ridge Farm, for the main course; Warm biscuits with chives arrive at the table.
FARM-FRESH FARE
At the center of each table is a basket of cream-colored biscuits flecked with bits of green from the garlic chives chef Rob Handel has gathered. I break one open and slather it with yellow butter from a small ceramic tub. It's everything a biscuit should be—soft, warm, buttery—and more, thanks to the chives and cheese Handel folded into the dough. The farm does not have a liquor license but more than makes up for it by allowing people to bring a bottle of their own and offering swoonworthy nonalcoholic aperitifs that could make even a hardened lush consider turning teetotaler. On this particular evening, Handel has prepared a locust and lavender shrub made with Handel's lavender vinegar sweetened with a locust flower syrup that he prepared last summer. "The locust trees only flower for about a week in June, so after I harvest the flowers, I make a syrup that I can, and then it lasts the whole rest of the year," explains Handel. Added to seltzer and served with a twist of lemon, the combination is unexpectedly lovely, with a subtly sweet floral flavor from the locust that floats on top of the slightly tangy lavender. I also sample Handel's farm-made root beer—a drink he created after tinkering with several recipes from the 1800s, "Root beer's heyday," notes Handel. His recipe includes more than 20 different roots, herbs, barks, and spices that he simmers before adding sugar to create an intensely flavorful syrup. Added to seltzer, the result is a beverage so fresh, complex, and woodsy that it is hard to put down.
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"I'm working on installing a draft soda system so that I can make it available on tap," says Handel. As the meal continues, more and more evidence of Handel's devotion to the dining experience accrues. Besides the spot-on flavors and textures, Handel's passion shows in little touches like the couscous that he hand-rolls and the way he pan fries the farm-cured pancetta to give the salty little cubes delectably crisp edges before sprinkling them over the silky fennel and apple soup, along with a drizzle of lemon basil pesto that he made last summer. The pesto was just one of many ingredients Handel had prepared in a previous season—his dedication to preserving the bounty enables him to produce flavorful, complex dishes even in the dead of winter.
A SHARED CATKILLS' LEGACY
Before each course, Handel comes out of the kitchen for a few minutes to introduce the food and answer questions. He is small and slightly husky, with dark, curly hair that is mostly hidden under a black chef's cap and the full lips and rosy cheeks of a Caravaggio cupid. He is also very young. At just 24, Handel seems remarkably focused and accomplished, and also endearingly shy. The woman seated at the table behind me has taken his foraging class and was wowed. "He's casually intense," she offers in a tone of affectionate approval.
PEEKSKILL, NY WHERE CITY MEETS UPSTATE
WHETHER YOU’RE KAYAKING, BOATING, BIKING, HIKING OR TOURING IN THE HUDSON VALLEY, YOU’RE INVITED TO START, END OR SPEND PART OF YOUR DAY OR NIGHT HERE. LESS THAN ONE HOUR FROM NEW YORK, PEEKSKILL IS A VIBRANT, HISTORIC, HIPSTER COMMUNITY WITH A FLOURISHING ARTIST DISTRICT, POPULAR DINING OPTIONS AND AMAZING ENTERTAINMENT HOT SPOTS.
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“Rob and I share a background that focuses on creating good food and a nice environment to enjoy it in.”—CAROL CLEMENT Handel got his start as a boy, helping his grandma in the kitchen of his family's place—the Blackthorne Resort in East Durham. Clement is also a self-described "Catskills resort brat"—she grew up in the former Shagbark Inn on Route 212 between Saugerties and Woodstock in the 1950s. "I think it's one of the reasons that Rob and I collaborate so well," says Clement. "We share a background that focuses on creating good food and a nice environment to enjoy it in." Clement serves, stopping to answer questions, refill glasses, and chat. Handel is assisted in the kitchen by Amanda Hughes, the farm manager—a friendly, dark-haired young woman who started out as an intern a few years ago but quickly became much more. "I knew I could trust her right away," says Clement, who adds, "and she also happens to be very good in the kitchen." I try to pace myself—five courses is a lot—but find it difficult to leave anything on the plate. Some of the foods are a bit unexpected— like the guinea fowl terrine made with salted clementine, walnuts, and vin de noix that is subtly nutty and perfectly salted. Served with crostini, a spiced jam Handel makes from the damson plum trees that grow wild on the farm, a dab of whole grain mustard, and a wedge of Nettle Meadow's creamy, mold-ripened Kunik cheese, the combination is blissful. Once again, I clean my plate. I am also powerless to resist the siren call of the slow-roasted lamb breast ribs glazed with pomegranate molasses and served with handrolled, jeweled couscous and roasted asparagus. By the time dessert is served, I am nearing my limit but still enjoy the tart, creamy damson plum sherbet and the moist, airy white chocolate cake with tangy lemon glaze. The coffee—a custom blend that's freshly roasted by a friend—is excellent. It sounds sappy, but you can taste the love in this food—the patience, humor, and affection with which Clement and Harrison raise their animals and the painstaking care and raw talent that goes into each and every component of the meal. Nor can I remember a time I've eaten a meal with strangers and felt so thoroughly welcomed, entertained, and nourished. Although I am quite literally stuffed, I leave hungry for more of this magical place. As Arnold Schwarzenegger said, "I'll be back." u Clockwise, from top left: Carol Clement outside the farmhouse; Chef Rob Handel prepares the main course before serving; Once plated, the slow-roasted, pomegranate-glazed lamb breast ribs sit atop a bed of hand-rolled couscous.
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FOOD + DRINK
S T O RY B Y A L I Z A K E L L E R M A N
Photo by Rachel Louise Lodder
u
FLOWING BOTH WAYS
New York City’s craft distillers include ingredients and inspiration from upstate.
T
he Hudson River runs two ways, heading simultaneously north from the Atlantic to the Adirondacks and back down from the mountains to the sea, a fact that has given the waterway mythical qualities and irrevocably tied together New York City and the Hudson Valley. So it’s only fitting that, in the contemporary New York City craft distilling scene, which is rapidly achieving legendary status, the Hudson Valley would play a role in the creation of contemporary versions of “the Devil’s water,” as liquor was called during Prohibition. From its founding days, New York has had a boozy history, relying upon ingredients grown both near and far, 40 upstater
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including within the Hudson Valley, to produce its hooch. But these days, the city-and-countryside collaboration is entirely sanctioned when it comes to producing spirits. In 2007, New York State’s post-Prohibition craft distilling regulations finally caught up with modern times, thanks to the Farm Distillery Act. The law allows New York State craft distilleries sizable licensing discounts if they use 75 percent New York State farm ingredients. Several Brooklyn-based distilleries are taking advantage of this remarkable opportunity, crafting products that at once evoke farmland and metropolis.
Photo by Aliza Kellerman
VAN BRUNT STILLHOUSE
In Red Hook, Brooklyn, Van Brunt Stillhouse’s tasting room’s decor is a compelling mixture of nautical charm and warehouse starkness. Founders Daric Schlesselman and Sarah Ludington, spouses and business partners, have been living in Red Hook since 2003, and when they moved into craft distilling, they decided to keep their business in the seaside area. Schlesselman says the mixture of “industrial and residential” just made sense to them. Van Brunt makes rum, moonshine from 100 percent New York State-grown corn, grappa from freshly pressed grape skins from wines made by nearby Brooklyn Winery and Red Hook Winery, and four types of whiskey: American, a four-grain made primarily from malted barley with a touch of corn and rye; a 100 percent malted, traditional Scottish variety but with caramel and roasted notes, aged for nine months in small, new barrels to bring out its wood character; rye that’s a mixture of the past year’s recipe experiments; and bourbon that’s wheated with 65 percent organic New York State-grown corn. Ludington and Schlesselman buy grain from Thor Oechsner, an organic grain farmer in Newfield, south of Ithaca, who Schlesselman calls a “steward of the soil.” Van Brunt’s whiskeys reflect the quality of their ingredients, with a delicious cereal depth that makes them easy to drink at 11 in the morning. “My driving force has always been making spirits that fulfilled me personally,” says Schlesselman.
6 Bay Street, Brooklyn / (718) 852-6405 / VanBruntStillhouse.com AVAILABLE UPSTATE: Rochambeau Wines & Liquors (Dobbs Ferry), Artisan Wine Shop (Beacon) AVAILABLE DOWNSTATE: Brooklyn Wine Exchange (Cobble Hill), Black Forest Brooklyn
(Fort Greene)
Photo provided by Breuckelen Distilling
Opposite: Oechsner Farm near Ithaca supplies grain to both Van Brunt Stillhouse and Breuckelen Distilling. From top: Oechsner Farm grains; Breuckelen Distilling’s Glorious Gin has a buttery quality.
BREUCKELEN DISTILLING
Located in Sunset Park, Breuckelen Distilling also buys its ingredients from Thor Oechsner (who, incidentally, not only runs Oechsner Farm upstate but is also a founding partner of Farmer Ground Flour, a co-operatively owned organic flour mill founded in 2008 in Trumansburg, and Ithaca’s popular Wide Awake Bakery). But Breuckelen, which has been operating since 2010, produces whiskeys and gins that taste very different from Van Brunt’s line, despite the sourcing overlap. Breuckelen’s gins are quite citric, and its whiskeys spicy. The distillery’s name alludes to when Brooklyn’s history as a 17th-century Dutch settlement. However, the spirits themselves aren’t exactly “Dutch-style”—that is, made with distilled malt wine, or genever. Breuckelen’s Glorious Gin has an interesting buttery quality, almost like a California chardonnay (in a good way). The distillery’s 77 Whiskeys (available as both a wheat whiskey and a rye-and-corn mixture) have that same full-bodied flavor, with plenty of tropical fruit.
77 19th Street, Brooklyn / (347) 725-4985 / BRKDistilling.com
AVAILABLE UPSTATE: Dylan's Wine Cellar (Peekskill) AVAILABLE DOWNSTATE: Tenth Avenue Cookshop (Chelsea), Della (Prospect Park)
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Batches of bourbon age in charred barrels at Kings County Distillery before being bottled in the distillery’s retro-style packaging (below).
Colin Spoelman, the cofounder of Kings County Distillery, is a native of Kentucky, but the distillery’s whiskeys hardly conform to traditional Southern style. “We borrow a little bit from Scotch tradition (high malt content, open fermentation, off-the-grain fermentation, pot stills) and a little bit from Kentucky tradition (corn-dominant, charred new barrels), using New York water, grain, and climate,” Spoelman explains. “It gives us a whiskey that is kind of the triangulation of those places and cultures, and that seems about right.” After discovering a plot of unutilized land in the Brooklyn Navy Yards, where Kings County Distillery is housed, the enterprise has even started growing its own corn. Although the distillery’s small farm hasn’t yet yielded enough crop to distill large amounts of whiskey, there’s been enough corn for small batches of“estate bourbon,” which is often donated to charity auctions.
299 Sands Street, Brooklyn, Building 121 / (347) 689-4211 / KingsCountyDistillery.com
AVAILABLE UPSTATE: Kingston Wine Company (Kingston), Ester Wine and Spirits (Kingston), Woodstock Wine and Liquor (Woodstock) AVAILABLE DOWNSTATE: Brandy Library (Tribeca), The Flatiron Room (Flatiron/Chelsea)
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Photos provided by Kings County Distillery
KINGS COUNTY DISTILLERY
GUESTROOMS * BRUNCH * LUNCH * DINNER
Stony Point
Wines & Spirits Large Selection! Great Value!
Like Us On Facebook 845.947.1799 22 Holt Drive, Stony Point, NY Next to Shop Rite SUMMER 2016
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Photo by Aliza Kellerman
THE NOBLE EXPERIMENT
For Bushwick’s The Noble Experiment, good ol’ New York City filtered tap is the water of choice. TNE turns out a rum called Owney’s, named after notorious New York gangster Owney Madden, who ran the Cotton Club during Prohibition and was so well known for his skill with a lead pipe and gun that no corroborating witnesses ever came forward for the several murders he was said to have committed—some of which took place in public in broad daylight. Although bourbon might be widely regarded as America’s liquor of choice, TNE founder Bridget Firtle is quick to remind people that rum was actually the first liquor to be widely produced and consumed by the colonists, back in the mid-1600s. Firtle, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, proudly holds that the New York City tap used in Owney’s is the best water in the world. That’s perhaps not surprising since it’s piped downstate from the Ashokan Reservoir, located in the midst of farmland at the foot of the Catskill Mountains. That’s why it’s perfectly tasty to drink from the sink taps—and why filtered New York City tap water is at least as high quality for Firtle’s rum as any bottled, branded water could be.
Above: The Noble Experiment’s rum, named after Prohibition Era gangster Owney Madden, is a contemporary take on the first spirit to be produced and consumed widely by New York City’s 17th-century colonists. Below: Industry Standard Vodka from Industry City Distillery in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.
23 Meadow Street, Brooklyn / (718) 381-3693 / TNENYC.com
AVAILABLE UPSTATE: Drink (Chatham), Liquorama Wine Cellars (Hyde Park), Roxbury Wine & Spirits (Roxbury) AVAILABLE DOWNSTATE: Chambers Street Wines (Tribeca), Huckleberry Bar (Williamsburg)
The ingredients of choice aren’t just about taste at Industry City Distillery, located in Sunset Park, but energy efficiency as well. The distillery’s Industry Standard Vodka is made from sugar beets, which require relatively little water, sunlight, or fertilizer to create a sugar-rich product. Not only that, but ICD’s machinery is completely proprietary. ICD provides a great example of how ingredients can be taken to the next level with process. “Ingredients are important, but the process is paramount,” explains co-founder Zac Bruner. “For a neutral spirit like vodka, the flavors that will end up in the final product are developed through fermentation much more than from the initial ingredients. Our innovative still, designed and built in-house, lets us make a beautiful, clean spirit out of almost any base.”
33 35th Street, No. 6a, Brooklyn / (718) 305-6951 / DrinkICD.com
Available upstate: Westchester Wine Warehouse (White Plains), Partition Street Wine Shop (Saugerties), Helsinki (Hudson) AVAILABLE DOWNSTATE: Eataly (Chelsea), Barcade (Chelsea, Williamsburg, Jersey City)
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Photo provided by Industry City Distillery
INDUSTRY CITY DISTILLERY
Pine & Oak
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Photos provided by Widow Jane Distillery and New York Distilling Company
Above: Copper stills at the Widow Jane Distillery. Below: New York Distilling Company’s Perry’s Tot Gin, made with Greene County-sourced wildflower honey.
NEW YORK DISTILLING COMPANY
New York Distilling Company makes a variety of unique gins and rye-based whiskeys. Each of the distillery’s spirits contains a sense of history and sentimentality, an allusion to something of the past. There’s Dorothy Parker Gin, named after the one and only delightfully acerbic poet. And then there’s the zesty Perry’s Tot Navy Strength Gin, which uses wildflower honey from Twin Spruce Apiary in Climax, a hamlet of the rural town of Coxsackie, in Greene County. And lastly, there’s Chief Gowanus Gin, named for the legendary chief of the Canarsees back in Brooklyn’s Dutch days. The gin is based on an 1809 American recipe that turns rye whiskey into a traditional New Netherland gin. The unaged, double-distilled rye whiskey is returned to the company’s traditional pot still, given a handful of cluster hops—the very type believed to have been used for the original recipe—and distilled a third time, followed by three months in an oak barrel for smoothness. What’s particularly interesting about this distillery is its use of rye, a grain that seems to be coming back into fashion in the distilling world, in its Roch & Rye, made with rock sugar, Ragtime Rye, and American straight whiskey. So what’s next for New York Distilling Company? “More rye,” says co-founder Allen Katz, “and an eye toward [heirloom] grain varieties with specific heritage.”
79 Richardson Street, Brooklyn / (718) 412-0874 / NYDistilling.com
WIDOW JANE DISTILLERY
Widow Jane Distillery is located in Red Hook, but its namesake is the Widow Jane Mine in Rosendale, Ulster County, from which the distillery obtains its limestone water. Widow Jane claims the limestone water has beneficial mineral properties. But the water isn’t the only ingredient the distillery gets from the Hudson Valley—it grows all of its other ingredients there too, including the heirloom corn breeds Hopi Blue, Oaxacan Green, Wapsie Valley, and Bloody Butcher, as well as Baby Jane, a hybrid of the latter two corns. Daniel Prieto Preston, who founded Widow Jane, also established chocolatier Cacao Prieto on the premises to produce “bean-to-bar” chocolate and cacao-based liqueurs and rums. Since the facilities neighbor each other, they can both be visited on the same afternoon for a sampling of that most appealing of pairings: whiskey and chocolate.
218 Conover Street / (347) 225-0130 / WidowJane.com
AVAILABLE UPSTATE: Gigi Trattoria (Rhinebeck), Fox & Hound Wine & Spirits (New Paltz), Cathryn’s Tuscan Grill (Cold Spring) AVAILABLE DOWNSTATE: The Penrose (Upper East Side), Borisal Liquor & Wine (Red Hook), California Wine Merchants (Financial District)
AVAILABLE UPSTATE: Zachy’s Wine & Liquor (Scarsdale), Suburban Wine & Spirits (Yorktown
Heights)
AVAILABLE DOWNSTATE: Death & Company (East Village), Tavern on the Green (Central Park)
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ENJOY THESE SPIRITS AT HOME. RECIPES 46 AT
upstater.com/nyc-distillery-recipes
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u MAP I L L U S T R AT E D B Y J E S S I C A M C G U I R L
49
SUMMER 2016
u
FLOWFLOW CHART CHART
BY L I N DA C O D E GA
START YOUR DAYTRIP RIGHT
*
WOULD YOU RATHER TAKE
THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED
MAIN STREET
OR
HOW FAR FROM CIVILIZATION DO YOU WANT TO BE?
OFF THE GRID
WHEN VISITING A NEW PLACE, YOU ARE MORE OF A
LET ME KEEP MY CELL ON
YOU ALWAYS ORDER A SECOND
FOODIE
OR DRINK
HOW TOUGH ARE YOU?
DESSERT FLANEUR
SLIDE MTN. SHANDAKEN
I’M AT THAT BEAR GYRLLS LEVEL
STUDENTS
OR
OR
IF I KEEP MY HEART RATE UP, I’M HAPPY
PROFESSIONALS
KAATERSKILL FALLS EASTERN CATSKILLS
GASKINS GERMANTOWN WHAT ARE YOU HERE FOR? C.I.A.’s AMERICAN BOUNTY HYDE PARK ART
OR
ADVENTURE
YOU WOULD RATHER HAVE A
THE GUNKS NEW PALTZ
ROCK CLIMBING
OR
CRAFT BEER?
CRAFTED COCKTAIL
OR HUNTER MOUNTAIN HUNTER
MOUNTAIN BIKING
SLOOP BREWING COMPANY ELIZAVILLE
STOCKADE TAVERN KINGSTON
OR ELLENVILLE
HANGLIDING DO YOU HAVE TIME FOR A WHOLE TOWN OR JUST ONE COOL PLACE I WANT TO WANDER A BIT
HOW FAR DO YOU WANT TO WANDER
MODE OF TRANSPORT?
TRACKS OVER 150 ACRES
OR
OR
I NEED A PLAN OF ACTION
ARCHITECTURE
OR
ART
WHEELS
OVER 500 ACRES
OLANA HUDSON HUDSON TAKE THE TACONIC
ART OMI GHENT
STORM KING MOUNTAINVILLE
PEEKSKILL TAKE THE MTA NORTH
THE DORSKY MUSEUM NEW PALTZ
*There are probably other factors involved here, but pick one destination and build from there! For more ideas and places to visit, go to upstater.com 50 upstater
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Let’s meet in
COLD SPRING
Shop. Dine. Explore. explorecoldspringny.com
Please visit our website for all upcoming events
Finest local & craft selection CATSKILL CELLARS Wine & Spirits 15380 State Highway 30 Downsville New York www.catskillcellars.com 607~363~2844
Open Everyday ~ Accepting all cards
DON’T MISS A THING. SPRING/SUMMER EDITION ON STANDS NOW To advertise, email Bartek@explorethehudsonvalley.com
DISCOVER. ENGAGE. ENJOY. HUGUENOTSTREET.ORG SUMMER 2016
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HV HAPPENINGS
S T O RY B Y S U S A N P I P E R AT O
Photo by Roy Gumpel
u
adaptation:
KINGSTON WELCOMES SMORGASBURG “F. Scott Fitzgerald’s dictum that there are no second acts in American lives is disproved here every day,” writer Gary Shteyngart recently noted of the Hudson Valley in Travel & Leisure magazine. Shteyngart, who rents a weekend cabin in Hudson, was referring to his fellow New Yorkers who give up city life to start new businesses upstate, injecting “new blood in these towns and villages.” But not only city transplants are starting over in the Hudson Valley—many of the region’s buildings are too. Adaptive reuse— refitting and preserving old structures for new purposes—is producing a seemingly endless pipeline of proof that the region is in resurgence. For starters, there are Walkway Over the Hudson (an 1888 steel cantilevered railroad bridge remade into a state park), Hudson’s Basilica (an 1880 railway-wheels-forge and foundry-turnedglue factory that’s now a popular market and events space), Beacon’s Roundhouse (an early 19th-century plant for textiles, machines, and dye that’s now a hotel and restaurant), and Tarrytown’s Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture (a 1930s dairy farm now housing an agricultural think tank, organic farm, and restaurant). The latest addition to the region’s diverse collection of thoughtful redevelopment projects is a Brooklyn phenomenon: Smorgasburg, the Brooklyn food extravaganza, will launch an upstate venue in Kingston
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on August 6. Founded by real estate developers Jonathan Butler and Eric Demby in 2011, Smorgasburg attracts 15,000 to 20,000 visitors to the Williamsburg waterfront every Saturday, according to Butler. Besides Smorgasburg, which also runs in Prospect Park on Sundays, Butler and Demby are also the force behind Brooklyn Flea, founded in 2008 and held in Ft. Greene on Saturdays and DUMBO on Sundays; and Berg’n, a 9,000-square-foot beer hall, open six nights a week, housed in Crown Heights’ former Studebaker Service Station, which the duo turned into a studio and office space with a permanent food court and weekend flea market. With Smorgasburg and Brooklyn Flea starring among New York City’s attractions, Butler and Demby could take their show on the road anywhere they choose—like downtown Los Angeles, where they are also launching Smorgasburg in June. The Hudson Valley Smorgasbord, set for the 10-acre, two-building Hutton Brickyard at Kingston Point Beach, is a “hybrid version of Smorgasburg and Brooklyn Flea,” says Butler. The first season will feature approximately 75 vendors offering food, vintage, and handmade goods. A few New York City food vendors are included, like the popular Ramen Burger (which serves burgers on ramen buns), with the rest coming from throughout the Hudson Valley, including several Kingston start-ups, says Butler, noting that there’s a “whole food movement that’s going on upstate.” The Hutton Brickyard is dilapidated, but that’s what Butler says appealed “first and foremost” to him and Demby. “We’re lovers of old architecture,” he says. “It’s a unique site, right on the water, and I think people will appreciate the sense of history about it.” Butler describes adaptive reuse as a “more organic process than you might encounter with most big developers.” In Kingston, he says,
Photos, clockwise from top left: Hookline Fish Company; Turnquist Photography; Vinyl Rescue; Cooper Lake Farm
“first of all, we want to preserve everything we can down there and find new uses for it. We’re viewing this first year as just getting our foot in the door, figuring out how the site works, how it works in the community and the region. In our experience, with locations and markets, it can take a while for things to reveal themselves about what a site wants to be and should be. So our idea is to go in with as light a touch as possible the first year, hopefully put it on the map as a destination location, put on a good market up there, and let the public access the site.” Besides food and shopping, the event will also feature a bar, family-friendly activities, and music, and will be “a little more relaxed” than its Brooklyn counterparts, which “can certainly feel a little intense at times,” Butler admits. “There’s a big open field to the north of the market, right on the water, so your kids can be up there throwing a football around while you’re sitting with food. It’s kind of picnicky. Bring a blanket, take your time eating, hang out, enjoy the view.” For Butler and Demby, the space also offers some “mellower” aspects. “It’s going to be an improvement over the city, where we’re constrained, typically, with space, so we’ll be able to spread out there,” he says. “Clearly, the site is gigantic, so it’s going to accommodate more.” But as Hudson Valley residents look forward to seeing the site come to fruition, Butler says he’s anticipating Smorgasburg’s impact on the region. “There’s clearly some kind of renaissance going on there,” he says. “I think it’s an interesting time to be getting involved in being a part of this, and hopefully being a factor in creating an economic and tourism revival.” u
a blanket, “Bring take your time eating, hang out, enjoy the view.
”
Opposite: Smorgasburg and Brooklyn Flea co-founder Jonathan Butler visits the Hutton Brickyard site, soon to be home to a new Smorgasburg venue. Clockwise from top left: Smorgasburg’s offerings will include salmon from Hookline Fish Company (Kingston), cookie cones from Sweet Poppy Bakery (Hudson), savory brittle from Cooper Lake Farm (Bearsville), and vintage records from Vinyl Rescue (Pomona).
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Photo by Roy Gumpel
BIANCA HILDENBRAND AND SHANEKIA MCINTOSH ARTISTS/VIDEO CURATORS HOMETOWNS: Zurich, Switzerland (Hildenbrand) / New York City (McIntosh) LIVE IN: Hudson MOVED FROM: New York City (Hildenbrand) and the Berkshires (McIntosh)
L
ast December, one of Hudson’s most exciting events was “Qu’est Qui Ce Passe,” a one-night-only video art show curated by Shanekia McIntosh and Bianca Hildenbrand at Time & Space Limited. It ran for six hours, spilling over into TSL’s screening room and café, and attracting over 80 people. “It was fun having people come up with concepts and ideas that are out of their comfort zone,” says McIntosh, an artist and writer who publishes the zine ZeroCool. Hildenbrand, a visual artist who’d run a gallery in her native Switzerland, moved to Hudson from New York last summer, quickly befriending and teaming up with McIntosh. For the video show, TSL offered the space for free, and Second Ward, a nonprofit arts foundation located in a former schoolhouse, loaned the equipment. The space itself helped dictate the pieces, notes Hildebrand: “We both like to work site specific, which determines how we set up everything.” Adds McIntosh: “We don’t like compromising. We could have done something really small, but then we thought, why limit ourselves to one room. We can think big about it.” McIntosh considers her writing, collages, and curatorial events “an evolving body of work, utilizing different mediums to invoke community space and, most importantly, accessible art spaces.” This ethos reflects her experience growing up immersed in New York City as the daughter of Jamaican immigrants with a modest income. “What I lacked in financial opportunity I gained tenfold with that cultural education,” she says. Hildenbrand, who attended art school in Zurich, had a similar experience in Basel, which has 40 museums and is known as Switzerland’s cultural capital. “These nonprofit institutions contrasted with the general art market and influenced my way of thinking and presenting art as a curator as well as an artist,” she explains. After graduating from Pratt Institute, Hildenbrand worked as an artist’s assistant “and learned a lot about the relationship between artists and the business of selling art.” McIntosh attended school in the Berkshires, moved back to New York, did internships at Brassland Records, Nylon magazine, and
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Bianca Hildenbrand (left) and Shanekia McIntosh.
Rolling Stone, and returned to the Berkshires, becoming a programmer and volunteer at the community radio station. When she settled in Hudson, she became a programmer at a weekly two-hour show called Pure Moods at WGXC, the community radio station for Columbia and Greene counties, and starting organizing screenings and concerts to benefit the station. “It was exciting to have the opportunity to visualize an idea and then be granted the autonomy and resources to make it happen, especially as a 21-year-old,” she says. She currently works in John Doe Records—“the most clichéd job for a 20-something music nerd,” she says. Her boss, Dan Seward—“the main man in the bizzaro anti-music outfit Bunny Brains”—is her mentor. Hildenbrand also works myriad day jobs. “We are not trust fund kids,” McIntosh notes wryly. While surviving in Hudson as an artist isn’t nearly as difficult as in Brooklyn, “it’s not that easy” either, admits McIntosh. Housing prices have been increasing “at an appalling rate,” she notes. “We don’t have a grocery store and everything is fine dining, so woop!” But even though Hudson suffers from “very limited job opportunities and gigs,” she adds, “It’s hard everywhere right now. The economy sucks for workingclass people, not to mention artists.” But Hudson’s relative affordability does offer the luxury of time. Plus, McIntosh says, “I feel connected to a great community. In the city, my community was limited to people in the same age group or field. Hudson is all over the place; one of my close friends is 72.” Adds Hildenbrand: “Hudson reminds me of Basel. It’s a bit smaller. It’s easier to get into a scene and meet people. Also there’s a passion for doing things even it it’s not funded, and generosity from people to help you do things. That’s really new for me.” The duo is planning future video series. In the meantime, “I got this crazy performance art round-robin thing I’m planning for summer at one of my favorite spaces in Hudson, Second Ward,” says McIntosh. “The possibilities are endless with that space, and it’s run by some great people. I always plan on having things—be they events, readings, art shows, or whatever—happen with space in between so I have time to plan properly. But it always ends up being back-to-back, and so it’s nuts and I never have any money. I need to figure out how not to do that.”—Lynn Woods
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DAYTRIP
S T O R Y B Y K A N D Y H A R R I S | P H O T O S B Y M A T T H E W N O VA K
Photos by Matthew Novak
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SAUGERTIES Village of Subtle Treasures
A
s a writer, I often work outside my home office, and Inquiring Minds Bookstore in the village of Saugerties is my occasional satellite office. It’s close to home and quiet, yet welcoming, with background sounds that include mostly gentle talking, low-volume music, and shoes tapping across the old-fashioned wooden plank floors. To my ears, it’s the sound of relaxed productivity. It’s satisfying and subtle. And, as it happens, it’s the sound of Saugerties.
Inquiring Minds is the Hudson Valley’s largest indie bookstore and has occupied the corner of Partition and Main Streets for over a decade, on the spot that once housed the local newspaper office and a photography studio. Downtown Saugerties has seen many changes, but the village’s growth is welcome. What hasn’t changed, thankfully, is that it’s still just as calm, neighborly, and daytrip-worthy as it was when I took my first back in 2000.
Opposite: Situated on the corner of Partition and Main Streets, the cafe at Inquiring Minds Bookstore offers satellite office space for creative types. Above: Romanesque-style Reformed Churchmade. of Saugerties was designed by architect James Renwick, Jr., who also designed St. Patrick’s TheThe coldsimplified confections at Hudson Creamery are locally Cathedral and the Smithsonian Institution, and features a pipe organ built by the renowned Frank Roosevelt in 1892.
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Clockwise from top left: An array of breakfast choices at the Village Diner; space for working at Inquiring Minds Bookstore; The 1869 Saugerties Lighthouse is a local landmark and B&B, situated on a manmade island in the Hudson River, at the end of a picturesque half-mile walk.
Saugerties can be surprisingly bustling just after sunrise. At the Stewarts Shop on Main Street, the local gents enjoy hot coffee, a newspaper, and maybe a scratch card or two, while, across the street, the Village Diner is hopping. I’m not exaggerating when I say that the diner’s owner and waiters know everyone’s name. They really do. But don’t judge Saugerties strictly on its morning routine, or you’ll miss a lot. Truth is, Saugerties is populated not just with older folks and families but also by artists, musicians, writers, entrepreneurs, and creative types of all stripes, not to mention a celebrity or two, like Tonight Show host and native Saugertiesian Jimmy Fallon. From its hardscrabble start as a Dutch settlement in the 1600s, through its milling and manufacturing days during the Industrial Revolution, to its all-but-forgotten status in the 1970s and ’80s, to its new life as a vibrant center of creativity and small business—Saugerties has welcomed everyone. That includes foodies. Saugerties is a foodie town, through and through. Pizzerias abound, along with sushi, Chinese takeout, and a delicatessen (Tomo Sushi, Szechuan King, and Delicioso, respectively). For more adventurous eating, eclectic dishes can be found at Love Bites on Partition Street, next door to Inquiring Minds. Chances are, any vegetarian, vegan, Paleo, or gluten-free type hankering for brunch (or lunch or dinner) will find something there to satisfy their food yen. Lucky Chocolates offers inventive artisanal chocolates (like Chimayo chili truffles) and old classics like egg creams. And Krause’s Chocolates, down the street, is a local institution, with chocolate peanut butter cups that are downright addictive.
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VILLAGE RAMBLES
There are few things in life as peaceful as wandering along Saugerties’s quaint, tree-lined residential streets. Impressive brick and stone buildings on Main and Partition Streets make up the Historic District; outlying streets are replete with Victorians, Federal-styles, Colonials, and Arts-and-Craft houses. The Saugerties Lighthouse, located on a tiny peninsula where the Esopus Creek meets the Hudson River, is reached by a half-mile walk providing a wealth of photo ops along the way. The walk culminates at the c. 1869 red-brick lighthouse with cupola standing atop a manmade island, surrounded by the river at high tide, and a rocky bar that dissolves into a sandy beach at low tide. Pack a picnic lunch and sit on the lighthouse deck. It’s a mere five-minute drive north to Seamon Park on Mynderse Road. Take a quick walk uphill past the caretaker’s house to behold the Catskill Mountains. Head down the other side of the hill to the stone wall along the Sawyer Kill to see the ruins of a 17th-century mill wheel.
Photos, clockwise from top left: Matthew Novak; David Morris Cunningham (2)
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Clockwise from top left: The dining room at Miss Lucy’s Kitchen; The refurbished Orpheum Theatre originated during the Vaudeville era; In the summertime, ’Cue is one of Saugerties’s most popular night spots, offering live music and old-fashioned barbeque; Partition Street Wine Shop hosts wine tastings as well as art shows.
Saugerties isn’t known for its nightlife, but that’s partly why I live here. A night out at a bar is completely doable, though, and Mirabella’s is a popular spot to have a drink, watch the game, and enjoy a slice of pizza. Likewise, Miss Lucy’s Kitchen makes specialty cocktails and serves locavore lunch and dinner, as well as the best desserts in town—unless you prefer takeout from the Hudson Valley Dessert Company. For local cultural offerings, SebSi Studio is a small independent venue offering standup comedy (yes, there’s a burgeoning comedy community in Saugerties), live music, theater classes, and other performances. Or, catch a movie at the Orpheum Theatre, a refurbished c. 1820 former vaudeville theater. On Mondays and Thursdays, it’s just $5 per person. Not bad for date night. In the summer, Cantine Field in the village plays host to frequent food truck festivals that also feature live music. Speaking of which, ’Cue hosts bands most summer weekends, serving up performances with a side of homemade Southern-style barbeque. Down the hill at Diamond Mills, Saugerties’s own luxury hotel, located above the falls at Esopus Creek, the Tavern offers high-end bar food, steak and seafood entrees, and weekend brunches. Planning a wedding reception? Diamond Mills does that, too. This summer, Diamond Mills will be joined by a “sister property.” Occupying the refurbished Lynch’s Marina, the Saugerties Steamboat Company, the latest project by local developer Tom Struzzieri (who’s also behind local horseback-riding facility Horse Shows in the Sun, aka HITS), provides yet another setting for weddings and special events. Saugerties is home to several art galleries featuring local and international artists’ work. On First Fridays, galleries like Imogen Holloway and Cross Contemporary stay open late to accommodate the foot traffic during what’s become a popular social event. Even the eateries and shops get in on the action; for instance, Partition Street Wine Shop hosts wine tastings and displays its own art collection in the back. It’s just another of Saugerties’s many subtle treasures. u
0PLAN 6 OTHER TRIPS UPSTATE AT
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Photos, clockwise from top left: David Morris Cunningham; Matthew Novak; David Morris Cunningham (2)
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Photo by Matthew Novak
Mary Stuart Masterson is planning an ambitious Kingston-based production studio and trade school, Stockade Works.
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MARY STUART MASTERSON ENTREPRENEUR AND ACTRESS
LIVES IN: Red Hook RESIDENT SINCE: 2013 MOVED FROM: New York City
M
ary Stuart Masterson is a talker. Get her going on one of her many passions, and she’ll talk your ear clean off. Bring up the four kids she had within three and a half years, for instance—three boys and a girl, including a set of twins—even though she didn’t deliver the first of them until she was 43. “It was an insane couple of years,” she’ll tell you. Or ask about the new place she and her husband, actor Jeremy Davidson, hope to move to soon, up by Bard College, where they’ll retrofit the house to be “passive,” meaning it consumes almost no energy by conserving heat and coolness with special glass, insulation, and roofing materials. Perhaps mention her attempt to grow all her family’s own food and live off the grid. “We know that we have a lot of children,” she’ll say, “so we’re trying to live with as light a footprint as we can.” But then dialogue has been Masterson’s trade for some four decades. In 1975, when she was eight, she made her film debut in the original version of The Stepford Wives. After that, she had a successful career on the big screen, TV, and the stage. She starred in Some Kind of Wonderful and Fried Green Tomatoes. She’d lived in New York City all her life, but when she and Davidson, whom she had met in a production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, quite unexpectedly had all of those children tumbling into their lives, they sold their places in Brooklyn and Sullivan County and moved to the Red Hook area. She calls it the “Goldilocks zone”—close enough to New York City to get there when necessary, yet far enough that it isn’t a bedroom community. “I don’t miss New York City at all,” she says. “I don’t feel like I lack anything. The coffee is great, the beer is great, the food is great, the people are great, the music is great, the schools are great. Obviously, the setting is great. I don’t miss
MARY STUART MASTERSON
Selected
Filmography Etc.
anything. Except maybe large-scale theater, and I can go to the city for that.” But none of that is what Masterson really wants to talk about it. She’d much rather talk about Stockade Works. Well, actually, no, she’d rather talk about Story Horse first. When she and Davidson realized how much culture there is in the Hudson Valley, and how long the commute to the city is, they decided they’d rather work locally. So they set up the Story Horse documentary theater. They find local people with interesting stories, record them, and then create on-stage performances, which play at Bard and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. “We’ve met fascinating people up here,” Masterson says. “I’m the most boring person I’ve met compared to these people.” Story Horse was the precursor to Stockade Works, Masterson’s ambitious Kingston-based production studio and trade school, which is now in development. Her start-up aims to attract movies and TV shows to the area with its facilities while simultaneously retraining locals for production work, in order to create jobs. The Hudson Valley, she argues, is “perfect in every way for TV production” because of its location and the bounty of creatives who already live here. So she has lobbied local government to make the same tax credits available to film productions in other counties and has worked with unions to include their labor. For her first project, they will film the process of setting up their new house and garden in the most sustainable way possible. “It’s always a balancing act between extreme, absolute values and living in the real world,” she says. “I’m going to do a show about finding that balance and how you actually do it. Because I’m not Martha Stewart—I’m Mary Stuart.” — Leander Schaerlaeckens
1975/ Appeared in the film The Stepford Wives with her father 1981/ “Alice in Wonderland” on Broadway as Four of Hearts and Small White Rabbit 1985/ Heaven Help Us, starring role 1986/ At Close Range, starred with Christopher Walken and Sean Penn 1987/ Some Kind of Wonderful, starring role, directed by John Hughes 1991/ Fried Green Tomatoes, starring role 1993/ Benny & Joon, starring role 1999/ The Cake Eaters, director 2001/ Kate Brasher TV series, starring role 2003/ Nine: The Musical on Broadway, starring role, nominated for a Tony Award 2004–07/ Law & Order/Special Victims Unit, recurring role 2010/ Mercy TV series, starring role 2013–16/ Other TV series credits include episodes of The Good Wife and Blue Bloods 2015/ Founded Story Horse documentary theater 2016/ As You Are; founding Stockade Works production studio and trade school In uptown Kingston, Mary Stuart Masterson wears a Vivienne Westwood Red Label dress from Kasuri, a cutting-edge, directional fashion boutique in Hudson. SUMMER 2016
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AT HOME
S T O RY B Y T I M O T H Y M A L C O L M / P H O T O S B Y D E B O R A H D E G R A F F E N R E I D
Garin Baker working at Carriage House Art Studios, a renovated post-and-beam barn attached to a stone carriage house. Opposite: The studio and gallery’s patio entrance.
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The Kindness of Strangers A mysterious master carpenter helped artist Garin Baker turn an 18th-century carriage house into a studio. Garin Baker isn’t afraid to talk to strangers.
That’s generally a good thing, particularly in case of the carriage house on his New Windsor property, originally a 1790 Dutch settlement. By the late 1990s, Baker, a visual artist specializing in realistic portrait and mural painting, was living and working in his main house, but the carriage house remained dilapidated. He hoped to convert it to a studio but didn’t have the $300,000 or so he thought he needed to renovate the space. “We’ll wait ’til I get rich and famous,” he said at the time. Then a friend brought a mysterious Frenchman to a barbecue Baker and his family hosted. While having a smoke, Baker showed the Frenchman the carriage house. “One day,” Baker told him. The Frenchman, named Patrick, responded, “When would you like to start?” Patrick, a master carpenter who had renovated structures in New York City and France, wasn’t joking. On Thursdays, he began
sending Baker materials lists. Baker would buy the materials and meet Patrick on Friday nights. They would work over the weekend, then Patrick would leave, returning maybe two weeks later. He accepted no payment. After 18 months, Patrick had taught Baker everything necessary to renovate the structure safely. “He disappeared,” Baker says, “and I finished it on my own in the next two and a half years.” Baker hasn’t heard from Patrick since. But thanks to Patrick, he now has a studio inside a renovated post-and-beam barn attached to a stone-walled carriage house. At the aptly titled Carriage House Art Studios, Baker presents both his work and work by other artists, and runs workshops and classes, often giving artists accommodations inside his main house. Essentially, Baker is an artist giving back to the art community; fitting, because a stranger gave him plenty of help. SUMMER 2016
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Garin Baker’s antique stone Dutch home faces the street; Carriage House Art Studios sits behind the house in a renovated barn and attached carriage house.
A native New Yorker, Baker was living and working in a cramped two-bedroom Manhattan apartment with his pregnant wife and twoyear-old son in 1990. After visiting friends near Peekskill, the Bakers began looking for a home upstate. Their hunt brought them to the Dutch settlement off Union Avenue. The main house has three stories. On the first level is a Colonialred living room outfitted with Baker’s paintings of family members. There’s his daughter lounging on the grass outside their house. There’s his girlfriend, Clara, intriguing in black on a sunny afternoon. A black marble fireplace is in the dining room, and in the kitchen stands an original restored fireplace with a beehive oven, perfect for homebaked pizza. The house has four guest bedrooms, which are used for Baker’s artist workshops—up to five each year. Artists from all over the world have been traveling to Baker’s house for five years to study drawing and painting. Baker especially loves to take artists out on plein air excursions. “I go to those place where Thomas Cole painted, where Frederic Church painted—all the Hudson River painters, I know where they painted,” he says. “I take people to those spots, and they come up from Brooklyn or wherever and are like ‘Holy....’” Baker’s devotion to traditional painting and mural work has afforded him opportunities in places like Helsingor, Denmark, where his mural of shipbuilders references the city’s history, and Santa Clarita, California, where he painted a mural of firefighters controlling a forest blaze for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, riding along with the firefighters for three days beforehand. “Most of the murals I do are really about communities, about the people,” Baker says, “and it’s about the stories they want to tell through public art.”
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Garin Baker working on a painting in his studio, which is located on the first floor and reached via a walkway from the gallery.
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Top: Carriage House Art Studios’ loft seating area showcases its exposed post-and-beam barn structure. Right: The studio is entered through an antique door, preserving the carriage house’s original character.
The same philosophy holds true for his framed paintings of everyday work and play, captured in bold color and displayed in the Studio Gallery. In Maine, he watched a family salt entire bags of herring to be thrown into the water as lobster bait. Back home, down at Plum Point on the Hudson River, he met fishermen attempting to haul in some striped bass. For weeks he’d show up, sketch their activity, sometimes join them. A staircase leads to a loft space with a leather couch, chair, and television, a place for visitors to relax. An upper-floor walkway connects this space to Baker’s office, with two computers, a drafting table, and paperwork spilling from every crevice. Back downstairs, through a hallway extending from the gallery, is Baker’s studio. It’s an old horse barn, confirmed by the chew marks, about horse-head high, on the original wood that frames a doorway. The studio and upstairs office underscore the nonstop pace of Baker’s busy existence as an artist/entrepreneur. In the studio, there’s a computer monitor, painting easel, and, at the far wall, an 18-foot-by-24-foot space for mural work. An oversize rack stands in a corner, holding mural canvas that can easily be unfurled against the wall. Baker also installed a skylight facing north, which allows for controlled, indirect sunlight throughout the day. Baker likes to have people stop by. It helps that he took care with a willing French carpenter to keep alive the carriage house’s character. “You have to be truthful to the reality of what [the carriage house] is, but then you have to bring to it an energy that creates an excitement about it. I have the benefit of [the house], though it wasn’t such a benefit when it was crumbling and falling down and I had to jack up half the building,” he says. “I think you have to start where you are with what you have and the tools that are available, and you have to bring the most honest, positive energy to that and build something.” And it doesn’t hurt to talk to strangers. u
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HV HAPPENINGS
S T O RY B Y S A R I B O T T O N
A SECRET CITY IN THE COUNTRY
An Obie-winning church-of-art Sunday service wins converts in New York City and Woodstock.
T
his may sound name-droppy, but here goes: Whenever I’m met with confusion on the part of someone I’ve invited to join me at one of The Secret City’s tent-revival-style Sunday “services”—held monthly in Manhattan and in Woodstock once each summer—I whip out my “Cash card.” As in: “Oh, by the way, The Secret City is something Rosanne Cash told me about. She’s performed there.”
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Photo by Kim Zsebe
Los Angeles, September 2014: Impromptu dancing broke out, as it often does, to Ameenah Kaplan’s drumming at the close of this “water”-themed service, for which the space was decorated with vintage bathng suits.
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Photo by Keren Lynn
Los Angeles, December 2013: For a service themed “light,” Chris Wells led The Secret City Singers in the organization’s theme song: “We’re Connected!”
That’s all it takes to persuade the uninitiated to come along to this ceremony/performance/salon hybrid described as a “church of art.” By the end of the service, they’re complete converts. That’s all it took for me, too. I had no idea what Cash was talking about when she mentioned the “gathering of artists,” a nonprofit to which she requested I donate her compensation for an essay she wrote for one of my anthologies about the push-pull New York City exerts on its inhabitants. When I asked where to mail the check, she provided an address in Woodstock. Turned out, this church of art was headquartered 25 minutes from my apartment in Kingston. “I can hand-deliver this,” I said. “That’s perfect,” Cash responded. “You have to meet Chris Wells.” She was referring to the organization’s spirited co-founder, artistic director, and Grand Poobah—a writer, actor, and cabaret performer who was raised in Lancaster, California, without religion, but on his own discovered a love of ritual, ceremony, and worship rooted in creative expression, separate from any kind of deity or dogma. An imposing figure over six feet tall, Wells leads the Sunday “services” and delivers touchingly funny monologue-style “sermons” wearing bright, shiny, outrageous getups—usually accompanied with towering platform heels. My hackles went up at the likening of the organization to any kind of church. As the lapsed, black sheep daughter of Jewish clergy, I’m freaked out by religion of any kind. But Cash’s recommendation wasn’t at all off. In fact, by introducing me to Wells and his “house of worship,” she presented me with the perfect balm for my artsy-fartsy, outsider, tortured-clergy-kid soul.
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So, what is The Secret City? It’s a 90-minute high-energy happening that takes place on Sundays once a month—four times a year in L.A., eight or nine times a year in Manhattan, and once a year in Woodstock. It’s both an irreverent sendup of the tent-revival church experience and a reverent bow to community, acceptance, and the power of the arts to shed light on shared human experiences. “It’s playing on the idea of religious or spiritual ritual,” Wells says, “and it’s preposterous at times, really silly, but my goal is that by the end of the event, a transformation has occurred.” The lack of self-seriousness makes the transformation part somehow more accessible. There’s a choir, but it performs covers of pop songs around a theme—past themes include Prophesy, Risk, Camp, and Sugar—and originals written by Wells and his band leader, singer-songwriter Jeremy Bass. Each service features a visual artist (like Woodstock artist Kate McGloughlin and Ayun Halliday, author/illustrator of the zine The East Village Inky, who’s now the organization’s volunteer “coordinatrix”) chosen by Wells’s life partner and The Secret City’s cofounder and fine art director, painter Bobby Lucy; a musical artist (like Cash, Simi Stone, Andru Bemis, and Broadway actor and Fun Home star Michael Cerveris); an offering of food, in tiny Dixie Cups, from local foodies (like Woodstock nutritional counselor Holly Shelowitz); a spoken-word artist; and performers in other media like the dance act the D’Amby Project. Each service also has a theme-related “sermon,” drawn from Wells’s own experiences. “An artist version of a sermon is a personal experience,” he explains. “If the text a preacher refers to is scripture, the text that an artist refers to is their life. I think that’s a big
Photo by Keren Lynn
Los Angeles, December 2013: For the “light” service, the crowd danced to Daft Punk under blue lights, and the younger members of the audience liked it too.
difference between art and religion—that art is grounded in the artist’s life and personal experience and personal vision, and it is not grounded in an outside text.” That’s central to what Wells calls The Secret City’s “cosmology.” “I always found spiritual sustenance through making art,” he says. Well, actually, first he found it in a church choir a friend invited him to join when he was 12. His family didn’t go to church, but he went. “I had myself baptized at 12, and confirmed at 13.” He wasn’t drawn so much by the notion of God as he was by the rituals, music, and communal worship. But at 16, he found theater, which quickly replaced church. Wells became an actor, writer, and singer in Los Angeles, juggling day jobs with plays, bands, lounge acts, and other kinds of art, always craving community with other performers. It was hard, though, to find kindred spirits in sprawling L.A. “I thought Los Angeles was a city that you had to find. It didn’t present itself easily to you—you had to find it and build it yourself,” he says. The L.A. he was trying to find was the creative one. “Creativity is a means of practicing connectedness,” he says. “I thought, why are art communities divided? Why don’t they intersect more?” That got him wondering: “Wouldn’t it be cool if there was something sort of equivalent to church, but it was about and for artists? It should be a gathering that has lots of parts and pieces to it, but it should be different from going to see a play, or going to a concert. And there should be elements of high and low. I’m very interested in oppositional art, meaning it should always be high and it should always be low. It should always be ridiculous, and always be profound. It should have a lighter quality to it, and it should be open and available to all people.”
“If the text a preacher refers to is scripture, the text that an artist refers to is their life.” –CHRIS WELLS
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Photos by Bobby Lucy
“It should always be ridiculous, and always be profound.” –CHRIS WELLS
That’s one of the many things that distinguishes The Secret City from religion-based churches. “I’ve wondered,” Wells says, “if your goal is to attract people with a transcending experience, or a feeling of belonging, or sustenance of any kind, why would you create so many barriers to so many people?” Wells founded The Secret City in 2007, after moving to New York and meeting Lucy through Lucy’s niece, who was in a traveling production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Wells. As his relationship with Lucy solidified, Wells realized he didn’t want to be on the road anymore. It was time to create what he’d envisioned: a monthly event celebrating and connecting artists, that’s open to everyone, regardless of their beliefs or which religion they were raised in. It began in a small theater, Theatre Lab, on West 14th Street. The first time, only four people showed up. But word of mouth and Facebook brought the number of attendees up to 75, so the services moved to a larger space—Dixon Place. In 2010, Wells’s work with The Secret City won him an Obie for Service to the Creative Community, bringing even more followers. Then, in 2013, Wells and Lucy were awarded residencies at Byrdcliffe Art Colony, and joined the expat migration upstate. They continue to hold services in New York and L.A., but in 2014 added annual services in Woodstock. The first two services, held at Byrdcliffe Theatre, were a hit. The theater was filled to capacity, with people standing outside, peering in through windows and doors. “One of the things I’m most proud of is that, over the years, there are pagans who’ve come, there are all these queer people, there are Jews, there are recovering Catholics, there are people who practice other religions [who] come, and nonbelievers,” he says. “We have a huge atheist community, vegans, trans, old, young, and that’s very satisfying to me. Participation isn’t predicated on what they believe, it’s predicated on a desire to gather and worship.” Accessibility for non-believers appeals to Cash. “It fulfills a spiritual function that is completely separate from religion,” she says. “Many of us who have washed our hands of religion still crave community and ritual and want to share a sense of wonder. Chris created a space for that and took it to a really fun yet refined level.”
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From top: New York City, February 2016: Chris Wells led a service themed “forbidden”; New York City, December 2015: For The Secret City’s first winter solstice celebration, themed “stardust,” Chris Wells sang “Goldfinger.”
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“No, I’m not taking you to some weird cult.” Photo by Bobby Lucy
–MICHAEL CERVERIS
New York City, April 2016: The theme was “risk.” Sideshow and cirque performers Fibi Eyewalker (sword swallower) and Francoise Voranger (dancer/acrobat) performed amazing feats.
For Halliday, the draw is the community. “Chris truly believes in the power and importance of community,” she says. “He has the sort of outsize personality that makes his monologues and the over-the-top unveilings of his ridiculous monthly getups lots of fun—but he also makes room for little rituals like breathing together, and exchanging pleasantries with the strangers seated near you.” But The Secret City attracts believers too. “I was raised Catholic,” says Broadway actor Michael Cerveris, who stopped into a Secret City service after reading about it five years ago—and who was honored, along with Chopped star Amanda Freitag, at the organization’s annual fundraiser in May at Dixon Place. “The Catholic Church is still a place I sometimes go to find comfort,” says Cerveris. “What I really love about The Secret City is that it’s not afraid of ritual, but doesn’t prescribe any kind of belief. That’s the hardest thing to convince people of beforehand: ‘No, I’m not taking you to some weird cult.’ You walk away from it so delighted because you’ve had time to spend time in a contemplative, comforting, uplifting community experience, but you haven’t been asked to subscribe to any particular point of view.”
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Connecting in small and simple human ways, focusing on what connects us rather than what divides us, can be incredibly powerful. When I attended my first Secret City service at the Byrdcliffe Theatre in the summer of 2014, and sang in the choir, I was so moved by the feeling of being in a “sanctuary” where I didn’t have to read aloud words I didn’t believe in, and being among a “congregation” of other creative people who accepted me just as I am, that I was crying too hard at the end to form the words of the final song. On July 31, The Secret City will hold its third annual Woodstock service at Bearsville Theatre, at noon. The featured visual artist will be award-winning coloring book artist Jacinta Bunnell. The Hudson Valley Horrors Roller Derby will be skating. The theme will be “Play.” Suggested donation: $15. u
Check out more images of The Secret76 City at
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MATT POND MUSICIAN HOMETOWN: Hanover, New Hampshire. “I went back after high school and tried to get a drink in a bar, but both bars in town had a three-drink maximum.” MOVED TO HUDSON VALLEY: 2015 LIVES IN: Kingston MOVED HERE FROM: New York City FAVORITE SEASON: Winter. “I love that time in early winter, where there’s no snow yet, no leaves, it’s just a blank slate and it looks like the end of everything.” LEAST FAVORITE WINTER: This past one. “At least with a brutal winter, you feel proud that you survived. This was more like an irritation.” Following an artist as prolific as Matt Pond keeps you on your toes. Try giving him a call to discuss his latest album—The State of Gold, released last year under his “Matt Pond PA” moniker—and by the time you’ve dialed his number he’s already dropped a new new album: Still Summer: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Fury, released as The Lowlifes. The album came together when Pond and his frequent collaborator, Chris Hansen, realized that they had a few leftover songs kicking around that all dealt with summer in some way. So they banged out a few more songs about the transition from summer into fall, scruffing up their usual soaring indie-pop anthemic sound so that the songs played just a little more ragged and a little wilder than on records past. “It’s one of my favorite things we’ve ever done,” says Pond. “It’s about a lot of people working fast, creating a website, coming up with designs, all believing in this ephemeral idea that only really came together the day before we left on tour.” Now, after 10 years of touring, Pond is ready to finally settle down. He bought a house in Uptown Kingston a year ago. “I want to not have a transient life anymore,” he explains. “My office
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was a hotel bed, my desk was a pillow. As much as I love performing, we can’t teleport places, and we’re the ones who have to make sure that everything happens. Trying to tour with fanfare and all that—it just seemed empty.” The concert that Pond held as a sort of christening for his new home also pointed the way to the next phase of his career. “I think I only want to perform from now on in my own house, or a place I own,” he says. On the other hand, Pond’s new house has its own practice space in the basement, something he’s never had before and that he expects will make any future projects a lot easier. “All the years of renting practice spaces and trying to figure out the logistics of tours would have been easier if I had been a bit more domestic,” he says. “When your life is in chaos, everything that comes out of it is chaotic.” Now ensconced in his own space, Pond says he feels free to keep making music, release more albums, or even pursue other career options—something he never would have been able to do when he lived in New York City. “In New York, your ambition is swallowed by your rent,” he says. “In Kingston, it’s affordable and people are ambitious. It’s beautiful and unfinished. It’s open, it’s got potential. Everything hasn’t been decided. I see good people, possibilities. I’ve never so quickly been a part of a community and loved it.” The Hudson Valley can look forward to Pond being a fixture of the local music scene for many years to come. And there are sure to be more surprises in store. In the time it took you to read this article, he may have already released another album.—Brian PJ Cronin
LISTEN TO MATT’S MUSIC ONLINE AT
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WEEKENDER
S T O R Y B Y K A N D Y H A R R I S / P H O T O S B Y E VA D E I T C H
Former New York City investment banker Gregory Perry now makes his career as a photographer based at his home studio in Ossining.
Great Setting for a Fresh Start RELOCATING TO OSSINING OPENS UP A FAMILY’S POSSIBILITIES.
A
fresh start isn’t necessarily what comes to mind when one thinks of the Westchester riverside village of Ossining. However, Ossining resident Gregory Perry might have something to say about that. Perry relocated there with his family for what could be considered the second act of his life, one that involves family, community, and creativity. Hailing from the Lake George area (the “real upstate New York,” he jokes), Perry graduated in 1992 from Pace University, focusing on economics and English. He went on to earn an MBA from Cornell University in 2002, after which he moved to Manhattan to work in investment banking. Before relocating with his wife, Kim, and their 10-year-old son Nicholas to Ossining in 2014, Perry was otherwise enjoying all of the perks of metropolitan living. “I appreciated the finer things,” he says of his time in Manhattan. “The culture, the museums, the entertainment, and the arts.” But then everything changed for Perry in a literal heartbeat: “I had a heart attack back in January of 2010 and wound up in the hospital down in Brooklyn,” he explains. “I’m totally fine now, but it was almost like a sign to me that said, you know, I should be doing something different.” Indeed, Perry gave up his career in finance and became a photographer, specializing in portraiture. Today, he spends his days taking photographs from his home studio, spending time with friends,
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and being involved at his son’s school, Roosevelt Elementary School in Ossining. He is also a member of the Ossining Chamber of Commerce. After living in nearby Briarcliff Manor for over a decade, Perry and his family moved to Ossining for several reasons, the foremost among them being Ossining’s tight-knit and diverse community. “What was important to us was being involved in a community that was very community focused … but also has a high level of diversity, different backgrounds, careers, ethnicities, all that,” he says. “My wife is KoreanAmerican, so we are a biracial family to start with. We’ve always been open-minded to lots of different types of friends, and this community really called out to us.” The affordability of housing stock within the Ossining zip code also called out to him. In 2014, Perry and his wife purchased a 1960s ranch house that he considers halfway between a fixer-upper and turnkey. “It needs a little bit of work on it but has good bones to it,” he says. “It’s got a good, wide-open entertaining space.” It doesn’t hurt that Perry is now paying less in taxes in Ossining than he was in Briarcliff Manor. “I love Briarcliff Manor—it’s like a sister town of ours,” he says. “But the amount of taxes that we paid for a quarter of an acre there—I pay half the amount of taxes and I have 10 times the amount of land here. I got a lot more for my money.” While the pace of Perry’s life has slowed down over the past couple of years, he still enjoys heading out of Ossining to dine in Port Chester, sip craft beer at Peekskill Brewing Company, and catch live entertainment at Tarrytown Music Hall. “I’m happy that there’s starting to be more stuff here,” he says. “I don’t go through withdrawals not being in the city every day. There’s a lot to offer here in the community. “ u
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t Upstater.com, we cross the line between “love” and “obsessed with” when it comes to real estate—so our On the Market posts go live every day. We scour the Internet and drive the streets to bring you the best-of-the-best houses on the market (although “best-of-the-best” is, of course, subjective). Our content runs the gamut, from “Five-Figure Fridays” (great homes under $99,000) to “More Than a Mill.” We also cover handyman specials, easy fixer-uppers, turnkey-move-in-ready homes, weekend escapes, country cottages, and grand estates.
A Church Born Again as a Home
Update this Colonial Farmhouse
509 Shaker Museum Road, Old Chatham Gabel Real Estate
378 County Route 354, Preston Hollow Weichert
$495,000
$225,000
BEDS: 3 / BATHS: 3 / SQUARE FEET: 2,914 LOT SIZE: .75 ACRES / TAXES: $3,170
BEDS: 4 / BATHS: 1 / SQUARE FEET: 3,340 LOT SIZE: 49.9 ACRES / TAXES: $1,894
When was the last time you went to church? If it’s been a while, consider seeking atonement for your sins by straight-up living in one. Okay, although we can’t exactly guarantee that buying this gorgeous refurbished church in the Columbia County hamlet of Old Chatham will get you in good with the Head Office, it certainly can’t hurt, right? However the mysteries of the afterlife shake out for you, you’ll still be spending your remaining earthly days in one helluva nice church-to-residence renovation. Originally built in the 1890s, the refurbishment includes a sea of hardwood floors, ceilings that touch the heavens, and a tucked-away choir loft above the living room, not to mention originally ecclesiastic touches like Gothic-style arched doorways. Here’s a bonus with owning this church home: The location is in a very quiet residential neighborhood, and while churches are usually not terribly well hidden, this home has some lush trees that help provide a little privacy— seasonally, at least. So maybe you should take it, along with that cute mahogany side patio. Can we get an amen?
We like the looks and potential of this c.1850 Colonial farmhouse. Yes, it needs updating and general tweaking, but it offers a ton of space with 3,000 square feet and four bedrooms. All that leg-stretching space doesn’t end inside the house. Walk outside, and behold the property’s bountiful 50 acres of land in northern Greene County. There’s definitely plenty to do up there if you’re into nature, with the Great Northern Catskills practically at your doorstep, as well as attractions like Zoom Flume and charming East Durham. But outdated carpeting and wallpaper aside, this home maintains lots of original mid19th-century characteristics like high ceilings, moldings, and wood floors, which assuredly wait beneath said carpeting. And East Durham certainly qualifies as a festival town, hosting the annual Catskills Irish Arts Festival. The Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival and a myriad of yearly festivals at Hunter Mountain are also held nearby.
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Queen Anne Victorian on the Hudson 158 Montgomery Street, Newburgh Apple 2 Orange Realty
$399,000 BEDS: 6 / BATHS: 6 / SQUARE FEET: 4,730 LOT SIZE: .2 ACRES / TAXES: $19,741 This incredible specimen of 1870s Victorian design, located near the Hudson River in Newburgh, helps tell the tale of the city’s roots as a cutting-edge center of industry with its own branch of the Eerie Railroad. The Stockbridge Ramsdell House currently lives its life as a B&B, but was once the home of Eerie Railroad president Homer Stockbridge Ramsdell. The grand dame includes generous square footage and four levels of living space drenched in details of the era like moldings, pocket doors, decorative woodworking, wood floors, and fireplaces. The real treat, however, is the view of the Hudson River from the upstairs screened-in porch and balcony. Imagine taking your morning coffee accompanied by that sight for sore eyes. Long story short, this Victorian house hits all the right notes with romance, history, and wellpreserved details, all of which is located within just 90 minutes of New York City.
R E A L E S TA T E S E C T I O N
DREAMY LOCATION
Actor Aiden Quinn’s Historic Stone House 904 County Route 6, High Falls Westwood Metes & Bounds Realty
$1.3 million BEDS: 5 / BATHS: 5 / SQUARE FEET: 4,000 LOT SIZE: 3.7 ACRES / TAXES: $17,446 One thing we love best about real estate hunting is that, occasionally, whenever a local celebrity puts a house on the market, we get to peek inside, and are never anything but truly impressed by what we find. Case in point: Actor and Hudson Valley denizen Aiden Quinn’s c.1792 stone house in High Falls. With more contemporary updates reminiscent of Craftsman-style workmanship and attention to detail, this spacious 4,000-square-foot house seamlessly weaves its 18th-century details in with its more modern elements. Note the original exposed stone wall in the kitchen, the rough-hewn support beams, and the historic farmhouse doors. All of it sits on 3.7 acres of land that include a pond, rolling meadows, old barns, and one seriously stunning view of Mohonk Mountain’s ridge. Ready to make Aiden Quinn’s loss your gain? CHECK OUT MORE HOT SUM M EPOSTS R 2 0 1 AT 5
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Patricia A. Hinkein Realty 19 Church Ave, Germantown, NY (518) 537-4888 www.hinkeinrealty.com • hinkein@gmail.com
Strawberry Hill, 1950’s Cottage sited on a knoll on 3 acres, features a vintage kitchen, light filled livingroom, 2BRs & a bath on the 1st floor. The 2nd floor includes a 3rd BR & room for additional living area. Updated mechanicals Mostly open land with seasonal Catskill Mountain views. $279,000
1850 Farmhouse on 1.3 acres in the hamlet of Livingston, minutes to Hudson, convenient to Bard. 3BR/3BA. Flowing floorplan, spacious, light filled rooms, wideboard and hardwood floors, pressed tin ceiling, fireplace, artisan built stone patio, old red barn, perennial plantings, raised bed garden. $349,000
1930’s Cape overlooking the Hudson River on 1.89 acres. This recently renovated 3 Bedroom home features a new kitchen with custom made cabinets, LR with river views & a fplc/wood stove, DR, 3 BRs, a den/studio & a bath. Hardwood floors, new double hung windows. Large, private back deck. Walk-out basement with high ceilings perfect for workshop/studio space. Updated mechanicals. $349,000.
1890’s Arts & Crafts style home with wonderful Catskill Mountain views on 3.5 acres. This light filled home features a LR with fplc, an open Kit/Dr, sunroom, 2 BRs, a den & 1.5 baths on the 1st flr. MBR suite on 2nd flr. Two story barn with finished studio Access to private lake. $349,000.
Clermont Contemporary on 7 acres with Catskill Mountain & country views. This one story home has 2,900 sq ft of living area & features an open floor plan that includes the foyer, LR with WS, Kit, DR & FR. this light filled home also includes a spacious MBR suite, 3 guest BRs, 3 baths, central air, vaulted ceilings, skylights, private back deck & 2 car attached garage. Landscaped grounds. $439,000.
Located on one of the nicest roads in the area, this Clermont property includes several 1960’s built residences with a turn of the century barn, a gunite pool & a retro pool house on 9 acres. Main house features 3 BRs/2 Baths, large FR, wood floors, central air. Pool house has an entertainment area with bar, baths & sauna. 2 BR cottage has an open living area with fireplace & covered porch. The adorable cottage also includes a fireplace and porch. Antique barn. Detached garage. Pond. All overlooking picturesque horse farm. $695,000.
Unique Energy Efficient 21,306 sq ft industrial building, located in Chatham, inspires many uses besides manufacturing warehouse. Ideal for an artist with large scale work, or for an art collector’s private museum, this solar heated/ cooled structure is ready to occupy. $1,200,000.
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Prime Retail & Residential Building located in the historic hamlet of Germantown. This 1930’s building includes over 1800 sq ft of retail space & 800 sq ft of office space, 2 fabulous loft apartments & a full walkout basement. Excellent income potential. An attractive package with retail, office & residential uses. $799,000.
Otto’s Market, a thriving, award-winning Hudson Valley business. This turnkey operation includes a 2500 sq ft building, inventory, fixtures & a strong track record. Built as a grocery store in 1927, totally renovated in 2008 offering everyday groceries with specialty, natural & local foods. An excellent opportunity for someone to continue & expand this local food business. $849,000.
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Bay, Bolton Landing. This estate offers 8.2 acres and 1267’ of spectacular lakefront. Built in the style of the Great Camps and nestled into a cove, the property features a 3-slip boathouse w/ deck, sandy beach with swimming dock, and a seaplane ramp. Main house has 4BR/3.5BA, 5FP, great room, billiard room, dining, kitchen, screened-in porch and workshop/garage. Separate 2-car garage with apartment. $6,995,000.
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SHERWOODGROUPNY.COM
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R E A L E S TA T E S E C T I O N
P REM I ER RE T REAT
71 acres, total privacy, 7 stall barn, paddocks, gunite pool, beyond amazing Tuscan Farmhouse, huge vaulted spaces, a blend of luxury & style. $1,799,000.
THIS COUNTRY COLONIAL
in perfect condition, is sited high for wonderful views & light, has an open floor plan w/a 15 x 26 LR. 2464 SF, FPL, huge MBR suite, 3acres. $439,900.
B U I LT W/ T H E B ES T
of everything, this amazing 3530 SF 4 BR, 3.5 bath colonial has coffered ceilings, a grand gourmet K, 2 MBR suites, a 3 car garage, & 11 scenic acres. $599,000.
W / H U D SO N & CATS KI LL V I EWS
This 1837 colonial is privately sited on 2.8 acres in a prestige RHBK location. WB floors, pocket doors, superb light. Restoration ready. $430,000.
INVEST IN A LUXURY BLDG
totally redone in 2007. 7850 SF, open office spaces, president’s suite, conference rm, 5 baths, 7 zone AC, parking for 40+ cars. $999,000.
A LUXURY CONDO
is perfect for weekends & RHBK is the perfect destination. End unit, oak floors, whirlpool tubs, CA, FPL, pool, tennis & private gym steps away. $399,900.
PAUL HALLEN BE CK R E A L E S TAT E , I N C . 6 3 7 0 M I LL S T R E E T • R H I N E B E C K , N EW YO R K • 1 2 5 7 2 P H O N E : 8 4 5 - 8 7 6 - 1 6 6 0 • FAX : 8 4 5 - 8 7 6 - 5 9 5 1
A SEARS HOME
w/wonderful style & charm, this 3 BR, 1.5 bath 2556 SF colonial has grand rooms, oak floors, a study, sunroom, FPL, & a beautiful setting w/huge trees. $279,900.
A 20X45 GUNITE POOL
sets the stage for outdoor living @ this wonderful retreat! 5 BRs, 2.5 baths, 2 FPLs, CA, media rm, 6 acres w/fenced organic garden. $495,000.
CIRCA 1770
This Rhinebeck colonial has show-stopping charm w/ WB floors in every room, exposed hand hewn beams, & a brick FPL. Garage/studio & barn. 5 acres. $289,900.
HIDDEN BACK ON 8 ACRES
This 3 BR, 3 bath home enjoys total privacy & a modern, open floor plan w/a great rm, vaulted ceilings, CA, huge FR & office. WOW! $349,900.
w w w. h a l l e n b e c k r e a l e s t a t e . c o m • i n f o @ h a l l e n b e c k r e a l e s t a t e . c o m
WHERE EXPERIENCE AND HARD MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE R E A L E S TA T E S E W C T I OO N R K
SUMMER 2016
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MID CENTURY MODERN Polynesian-flavored home designed by Harry Wenning, influenced by F.L. Wright. Flagstone foyer, adorned with stone walls, opens to a grand living room with soaring beamed ceilings and glass walls. Terraced landscapes, privacy. WEB# PJ1335069 LAGRANGE | $659,000
COUNTRY HOME A perfect combination of the vintage modern mix – a historic 1910 Cottage. Unique, sometimes mod light fixtures blend perfectly with authentic period details and finishes. A truly private and calming paradise. WEB# PJ1333459 WASHINGTON | $425,000
GREAT LOCATION You’ll love how much charm this house has. From the front porch to the fireplace and wood beams. The house is move-in ready. Large decking. Useable level back-yard with a large shed. Conveniently located. WEB# PJ1323336 EAST FISHKILL | $269,900
VINTAGE CHARMER Meticulously restored five-bedroom home. Living room with fireplace, formal dining room leads to a cozy porch. New granite kitchen and ceramic bathrooms. Suitable for large or extended family and perfect for entertaining. WEB# PJ1329010 POUGHKEEPSIE | $215,000
Jill L. Rose Real Estate Salesperson Mobile: 914.204.0124
Jill L. Rose Real Estate Salesperson Mobile: 914.204.0124
Loren Lancaster Associate Real Estate Broker Mobile: 914.489.0761
Karen Briscoe Reed Associate Real Estate Broker Mobile: 914.213.1953
LAGRANGEVILLE BROKERAGE | 1325 ROUTE 55 | HOULIHANLAWRENCE.COM
AREA’S MOST POWERFUL LOCAL AND GLOBAL NETWORKS.
COOPERSTOWN • NY
Indian Run Road - $995,000 Renovated 1860's farmhouse on 180+ beautiful acres only 3.5 hours from NYC and 10 minutes to Cooperstown.
Blossom Hill - $750,000 Yankee Barn post & beam home on 85 acres of farmland, hills, and woods with large pond and threebedroom guest apartment.
Main St. Cooperstown - $685,000
Commercial building includes popular turn-key restaurant and 2,550 sq. ft. duplex apartment with private roof deck.
Stack-Page Properties
phone: 607.435.0125 / 607.316.7474 www.stackpageproperties.com / amystack@kw.com
88 upstater
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R E A L E S TA T E S E C T I O N
George T. Whalen Real Estate • ES TA B LI S H ED 1 9 2 5 •
GRAND ESTATE IN THE HEART OF MILLBROOK HUNT COUNTY—Beautiful Millbrook home on 83 acres of gently rolling land. Elegantly designed house with 4 BRs and 5.5 baths, high ceilings, wide plank floors, stunning moldings, 6 fireplaces, covered porch, stone terraces, balcony and heated swimming pool. Sweeping views east to the distant hills. Lovely carriage house suitable for guest quarters with parking for 3 cars. Perfect land for sporting with trails for exploring and a pond for bird watching or duck hunting. 90 minutes from NYC. OFFERED AT $4,100,000
TAKING IT PERSONALLY
Hudson Valley mortgage banker Laura Moritz provides concierge service. ELEGANT COUNTRY COLONIAL—Custom built home crafted with the finest materials on 10.25 acres in Millbrook Estate area. Stylish design & spacious, light-filled rooms. 5BRs and 6.5 baths w/ incredible details. 10’ ceilings, wood flooring, brick fireplaces, fine moldings, French doors to courtyard, Gunite pool, tennis court, waterfall, elevator, wine cellar & 4 car garage. Fabulous new barn w/4 bays. Beautiful landscaping and stonework. OFFERED AT $2,395,000
MILLBROOK COUNTRY CONTEMPORARY—This immaculate home sits completely privately on 5.35 acres in Millbrook. It boasts 4 BRs & 3.5 baths. New, custom kitchen w/granite opens to fabulous family room with soaring ceiling and stone fireplace. Large light filled rooms, gleaming hardwood floors and walls of windows. Master suite with new bath and private balcony. Detached three car garage. OFFERED AT $525,000
3269 Franklin Ave. Millbrook, NY 12545 845-677-5076 • GTWhalen.com R E A L E S TA T E S E C T I O N
In today’s risk-averse banking climate, getting approved for a mortgage can be slow, scary, and confusing—making some would-be homebuyers give up. But not if their mortgage banker is Laura Moritz of Hudson Valley-based Classic Mortgage LLC. As a licensed mortgage loan originator with 32 years of experience, Moritz is “committed to exceeding expectations.” Effective communication with an experienced local lender makes all the difference, says Moritz. “Securing a mortgage should never be a ‘keystroke solution’—you need a real person who really cares about you to help navigate you through the process,” she explains. “My customers can count on me 24/7. While bureaucratic, big-box banks take months to fund loans, I can get clearance to close in four to five weeks.” Recently, one of Moritz’s customers was in a bidding war on a house, and time was of the essence to present a pre-approval letter to the sellers. “I got the letter presented in five minutes, and my client’s offer was accepted,” Moritz says. The other bidder waited more than a day for a letter from his lender, and lost out. Concierge service is “not a luxury but a necessity,” Moritz says. “I work with my clients, sometimes for more than a year, preparing them for successful outcome. When you’re buying a home, you should never be a pile of papers on someone’s desk in another time zone.” A lifelong Hudson Valley resident, Moritz has solid relationships with local title companies, attorneys, appraisers, and surveyors. Licensed in New York, New Jersey, and Florida, she can be reached at (845) 222-8270 or lmoritz@classicllc.com.
SUMMER 2016
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Eagle Valley Realty 6569 State Route 97 • Narrowsburg, NY 12764
Phone 845-252-3085
Serving the Upper Delaware River Valley • Licensed NY & PA, Realtor-MLS
WWW.EAGLEVALLEYREALTY.COM Paradise Found! This renovated riverfront home features a sunny LR, brick fireplace, new kitchen with granite counters, cozy dining area, three bedrooms, full bath, enclosed porch, and wood floors. Enjoy the majestic Delaware River and nature at your doorstep! When not relaxing by the river, sit by the outdoor fire pit or unwind on your private rear deck. Also included is your very own small, rustic, seasonal guest house/artist’s studio, steps from the river. Conveniently located. A great find. Make this yours for $339,000 MLS #43354 Stone House! This lovely home could be straight out of a fairy tale. Beautiful stone home features beautiful woodwork, a stone fireplace in the living room, kitchen with tiled floors, two bedrooms, full bath & side porch. Lovingly maintained with lots of great outdoor features. Located on almost half an acre in charming country town near the Delaware River! A must see @ $124,999 MLS #40801
Willow Realty
Croton on Hudson Modern Day Farmhouse 4 bedroom, 4 bath home is a gardener's and nature lover's paradise situated on a shy 2 acres. Large open great room with wide plank pine floors, stone fireplace and a professional chef kitchen. Master bedroom suite with sitting room. Lower level perfect for au-pair or guests. A relaxed yet refined home, thoughtfully built with eco friendly energy efficient geo thermal heat/ central air and solar panels, a perfect blend for a modern day farm house.
Suzanne Welch
Associate Real Estate Broker- SRS 914-557-3760 suzanne4homes@gmail.com 1392 Albany Post Road Croton on Hudson, NY 10520
Low Maintenance Country House Two Hours from New York City
Hudson Valley Real Estate - Ulster County Real Estate
Elegant, Cozy, yet Spacious Contemporary on the Wallkill River in Gardiner
For Sale: 399 Beaverkill Mountain Rd. Available to show June 1, 2016 Price: $1,300,000
6,000+ sq. feet 7 bedrooms, 4 baths, 2 bedroom guest/nanny apartment 2 1/2 car garage, 4 stall barn with fenced paddock Privately set way back from the road, on the Wallkill River Extensive decking, bright sun room, master suite 33 Gibbons Lane, New Paltz, NY Laurie@WillowRealEstate.com
845-255-7666 90 upstater
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This lovely 3 BR/1.5 Ba home is 1700 sf of rustic beauty. Built in 2006 and ready for move in! There is an attached, heated garage with a workspace for an artist or car enthusiast. Large matching garden shed in backyard. See our ad on Upstater.com!
Walter Ackerman
607.348.8681 | wcbluemoon@gmail.com
R E A L E S TA T E S E C T I O N
Specializing in Southern Columbia County, NY
Incredible Catskill views! Dennis Wedlick, AIA, sited this 3 BR, 2.5 BA, 2200 SF home on 12+ acres to take advantage of the beautiful vistas. Open living/dining/kitchen. Chef’s kitchen has a Liebherr refrigerator/freezer, Thermador double wall ovens, Wolf 6-burner range, stainless hood, Bosch dishwasher. A separate Subzero refrigerator/freezer for beverages and ice. Gas wall-mounted fire place and bamboo floors. LED or low voltage lighting in the living room, dining room, kitchen and bathroom floor and many green features such. Attached 2-car garage completes the package. Asking $1,200,000
Lindsay LeBrecht , Real Estate Broker
285 Lakeview Road, Craryville (Copake Lake), NY
City Carol Albert
Licensed Real Estate Salesperson 1995 Broadway, New York, NY 10023 917-733-1492 carol.albert@elliman.com Ranked Top 10 Broker
Country
My husband Patrick and I are New York City and Hudson Valley real estate brokers that live in Manhattan and Rhinebeck. Dually licensed, we work and play in both of these unique places! We work with two top-rated real estate companies and have over 15 years of experience in real estate sales and home restorations.
If you’re looking for your country getaway, we can answer all of the frequently asked questions: How much will I have to spend? How can I get there – by car, Metro-North or Amtrak? Where will I shop, dine and enjoy outdoor activities? Where should I be looking?
If you are looking to upsize your quality of life with a country getaway or even downsize and leave the city, we’re ready to help. Choose the “ONE” team that can find your country home, sell your apartment or both! We work with you to ensure a seamless transaction. Trust the “locals” in both places that we call home—NYC and the Hudson Valley/Catskill Region!
We look forward to finding your country home! Patrick Hellwig Licensed Sales Associate 6423 Montgomery St. Suite 5, Rhinebeck, NY 12572 (646) 737-4743 • catskillmountainbrokers@gmail.com
R E A L E S TA T E S E C T I O N
findmycountryhouse.com SUMMER 2016
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Café Realty | www.Cafe.Realtor | 914.666.7792 | info@CafeRealtyNY.com
Quality Timber Frame Hilltop Retreat
Willow Realty R E
SUNSET VIEWS
Hudson Valley Real Estate - Ulster County Real Estate
1857 Brick Federal Farmhouse on 54 acres Overlooking the Wallkill River in Gardiner
D H O
PRIVACY
O
K
Signature Series es es
Eagle Valley Realty
Available to show in June, 2016 Price: $1,850,000 Impeccably and honestly restored and furnished to its era 11 foot ceilings, elaborate and true moldings and trim 3,350 Sq Ft. - 3rd floor studio Privately set way back from the road, on the Wallkill River Horse barn and fenced paddocks Completely renovated guest house 33 Gibbons Lane, New Paltz, NY Laurie@WillowRealEstate.com
845-255-7666 Inspired living happens here in the Hudson Valley.
6569 State Route 97 Narrowsburg, NY 12764
BARRY G. BECKER WWW.EAGLEVALLEYREALTY.COM (845)252-3085 ext. 17 • (917)892-0749 • barry.eaglevalleyrealty@gmail.com
140 Main Street, Cold Spring, NY, 10516 phone 845-265-4113 info@mccaffreyrealty.com www.mccaffreyrealty.com
Asking Price: $599,500 Soar With The Eagles!! Magnificent beaver mountain chalet, perched high on a hillside, boasting stunning panoramic views of the Delaware River Valley! Almost 19 acres of complete privacy. 3600 Sq. Ft. Of living space, this open concept provides: 3 beds, 2.5 baths, cathedral ceilings, hardwood floors, custom gourmet kitchen, beautiful custom woodwork, a spacious loft master suite with custom tiled bath offers privacy and spectacular views! The finished basement makes for a great family room and provides extra storage. House is temperature controlled by 4 systems: radiant heat, hw baseboards, propane fireplace, mitsubishi split unit for a/c. Full house generator and underground utilities. Gazebo, 4 outbuildings, 3 bay heated garage with finished game room above it. Minutes to deeded Delaware River access! MLS#43236
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Michael McDonough AIA NYC+Hudson Valley
“Distills the design impulses of art internationally...” — The New York Times Award-winning Architecture Since 1984
646.413.2760 mcd.arch.ny@gmail.com R E A L E S TA T E S E C T I O N
Sherret E. Chase’s specialty is locating rural recreational properties in the Catskill Mountain region and southern New York state. Large properties and unique homes are his greatest interest and complex projects including land development are his favorite.
Artfully Uniting Extraordinary Homes With Extraordinary Lives ®
Contact Sherret E. Chase, Associate RE Broker to learn more about any of these remarkable properties o. 518.580.8500 m. 845.380.2831 | sherret.chase@sothebysrealty.com| sherretchase.selectsothebysrealty.com
Perhaps the “Prettiest” 3 bedroom home on 6 acres near the Butternut Pond in Shokan,NYon 49 acres next to State’s“for- View of the Catskill’s high peaks across the Ashokan. Away village with 2 apartments. Woodstock. MLS#20153955, ever wild” mountain with protected stream near Woodstock. fromitall,closetoWoodstock.Marbletown.MLS #20154563, $589,000 Agentowned.MLS# 20152649, $799,000 $979,000
Classic villa on 24 acres overlooking central Catskills with pan- Renovated completely, farmhouse with cathedral ceilings, Custom hand crafted stone mansion and pond, 46.5 acres, oramicviewsnearHunterSkiAreainElkaPark.MLS#107874, Endless Pool, 4 bedrooms on Ouleout Stream near Delhi/ panorama of Catskills and Shawngunks, In Marbletown. $2,549,000 Oneonta. MLS #20154629, $349,000 MLS #20153808, $2,400,000 Sotheby’s International Realty® is a licensed trademark to Sotheby’s International RealtyAffiliates,Inc. An Equal Opportunity Company.Equal Housing Opportunity. Each Office Is Independently OwnedAnd Operated.
Sotheby’s International Realty® is a licensed trademark to Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates, Inc. An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Each Office Is Independently Owned And Operated.
You know it when you feel it…At home in Rhinebeck
RHINEBECK VILLAGE VICTORIAN
Circa 1800 renovated home. Landscaped with perennial gardens and an in-ground pool. Many original details with high ceilings, wood floors, natural light. Five bedrooms (with master suite), 3.5 bathrooms, living room, dining room, library, study, open kitchen and first floor apartment. Back deck and front porch. $857,000
PRIVACY AND TRANQUILITY
This property boasts a water landscape with meandering streams, stocked koi pond and rushing waterfall. One level living in an impeccably designed interior with top finishes. Great Room, hardwood floors and stone fireplace. Back deck overlooks the pond as part of the surrounding landscape. Just move right in! $495,000
OPEN CONCEPT LIVING
Light filled 3-bedroom post & beam home on 4.5 acres. Yankee Barn with spacious feeling and flexible space. Great Room with cathedral ceiling, French doors, floor to ceiling windows, exposed beams, wide board pine flooring and loft with office. It’s classic charm with a contemporary design. Close to Rhinebeck. $489,000
6423 MONTGOMERY STREET | RHINEBECK, NY 12572 | 845-876-8588 | NorthernDutchessRealty.com
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R E A L E S TA T E S E C T I O N
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SUMMER 2016
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The John o’Brien residence A SECOND EMPIRE VICTORIAN RHINEBECK, NEW YORK
This stately, circa 1875 home in the heart of the Village was tastefully renovated in 2015 while keeping its vintage moldings, wood floors, marble fireplaces and light fixtures. It offers over 5000 s.f. on 3 levels and includes a chef’s kitchen with local quarried marble, formal parlors, master en suite with elegant gas fireplace and bath. There are 5 additional bedrooms and 3.5 baths. The property also has a carriage barn. Walk to fine dining, theater, and farmers’ market. Minutes to Amtrak and Bard’s Fisher Center. Offered at $1,995,000.
H.H. HILL REALTY SERVICES, INC. 845.876.8888 • HILLRHINEBECK.COM 6408 MONTGOMERY ST., RHINEBECK, NY 12572
Looking for a unique getaway?
AirstreamSanctuary.com
Reserve a ‘themed’ airstream! Choose Your Own Custom Interior: • 60’s Rock & Roll • Retro-Pop
• Welcome to the Woods • Original Classic
Enjoy your Airstream experience on our wooded property, close to the Hudson River Waterfront,West Point,Woodstock, Bethel Woods, Wineries, Orchards, Farms, New Paltz, Catskills, Bannerman’s Island, Hyde Park, Sleepy Hollow, Purple Heart Hall Of Honor, Last Encampment, Beacon Art District, Lighthouses. We include “Complimentary” WiFi, Daily Housekeeping,and Car Service from nearby Beacon Metro North Station or Stewart Airport to your car rental locations. (Enterprise, Budget, Avis) For more information and availability email to: INFO@AirstreamSanctuary.com Visit our website for full details and photos www.AirstreamSanctuary.com For Reservations Contact: www.airbnb.com
94 upstater
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Over 50 years experience selling Lake George real estate!
(518) 668-9500 WWW.SHERWOODGROUPNY.COM
R E A L E S TA T E S E C T I O N
CONTACT our
ADVERTISERS
399 Beaverkill Mountain Road
EvolveD Interiors & Design Showroom LLC
NACL Theater
Adage
Forestburgh Playhouse
New Paltz Chamber of Commerce
607-348-8681
adage-nyc.com / 518-697-5398
Airstream Sanctuary airstreamsanctuary.com
Apple Greens Golf Course applegreens.com / 845-883-5500
Atlantic Custom Homes
hudsonvalleycedarhomes.com / 845-265-2636
Berkshire Products, Inc.
berkshireproducts.com / 413-229-7920
Bethel Woods Center for the Arts bethelwoodscenter.org / 866-781-2922
Birdsall House
birdsallhouse.net / 914-930-1881
Boscobel House & Gardens boscobel.org / 845-265-3638
Buttermilk Falls Inn & Spa
buttermilkfallsinn.com / 845-795-1310
C. Herrington Home & Design 518-325-6452
Cabinet Designers, Inc
cabinetdesigners.com / 845-331-2201
Cafe Realty
cafe.realtor / 914.666.7792
Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, Inc caramoor.org / 914-232-1252
Catskill Art Society
catskillartsociety.org / 845-436-4227
Catskill Cellars
catskillcellars.com / 607-363-2844
Catskill Farms Builders
thecatskillfarms.com / 845-557-3599
Catskill Mountains Resort
catskillmountainsresort.com / 845-456-0195
Chronogram
chronogram.com / 845-334-8601
Classic Mortgage
classicmortgagellc.com / 845-222-8271
Cold Spring Chamber of Commerce explorecoldspringny.com
Coldwell Banker - Suzanne Welch 914-557-3760
Copake Lake Realty
copakelakerealty.com / 518-325-9742
Country Life Real Estate
countryliferealestate.com / 518-392-6601
Creatives MX Marathon marathon.creativesmx.com
Cricket Coleman Paintings cricketcoleman.com / 917-710-1131
Dancing Cat Saloon/Catskill Distilling Company 845-583-3141
David Borenstein
architectdavidborenstein.com / 845-758-6079
DeBruce Country Inn
debrucecountryinn.com / 845-439-3900
Dental Office of Drs. Jeffrey & Maureen Viglielmo drvigs.com / 845-339-1619
Dirty Girls Design
dirtygirlsdesign.com / 845-626-1311
Douglas Elliman Real Estate- Carol Albert findmycountryhouse.com / 917-733-1492
Dutchess County Fairgrounds dutchessfair.com / 845-876-4001
Dutchess Tourism, Inc. dutchesstourism.com
Eagle Valley Realty
eaglevalleyrealty.com / 845-252-3085
Eagle Valley Realty- Barry Becker eaglevalleyrealty.com / 917-892-0749
Elephant
845-339-9311
Emerson Resort & Spa emersonresort.com
evolvedinteriors.com / 845-679-9978 fbplayhouse.org / 845-794-1194
Fox Stonework Legacy Landscaping 845-750-1652
Friends and Family II Hillside Restaurant friendsandfamily2.com / 845-626-7777
Gary DiMauro Real Estate garydimauro.com / 845-876-5101
Gary DiMauro Real Estate- Kornelia Tamm garydimauro.com / 845-489-2000
George Cole Auctioneers
nacl.org / 845-557-0694
newpaltzchallenge.com / 845-255-0244
Newburgh Illuminated Festival newburghilluminatedfestival.com
North Country Vintage
northcountryvintage.com / 347-615-5529
Northern Dutchess Realty
northerndutchessrealty.com / 845-876-8588
Olana Partnership
olana.org / 518-828-0135
georgecoleauctions.com / 845-758-9113
Ole Savannah Table & Bar
gtwhalen.com / 845-677-5077
Ornella
glennssheds.com / 845-328-0448
Patricia A. Hinkein Realty
gmws.org / 845-356-2514
Paul Hallenbeck Real Estate
gregoryperryphotography.com / 646-345-7077
Peekskill Business Improvement District
handmadeandmore.com / 845-255-6278
Peggy Lampman Real Estate
hillrhinebeck.com / 845-876-8887
Pepacton Natural Foods
huguenotstreet.org / 845-255-1661
Phoenicia Festival of the Voice
houlihanlawrence.com / 845-473-9769
Pine & Oak Restaurant
househudsonvalley.com / 518-828-5155
Putnam County Tourism Office
hudson-co.com / 845-848-3040
Quatrefoil
hudsonriverexpeditions.com / 845-737-1202 / 914-809-5936
Ronnybrook Farm Dairy
George T. Whalen Real Estate Glenn’s Wood Sheds
Green Meadow Waldorf School Gregory Perry Photography Handmade and More
olesavannah.com / 845-331-4284
ornellatrattoria.com / 718-777-9477 hinkeinrealty.com / 518-537-4889
hallenbeckrealestate.com / 845-876-1660 downtownpeekskill.com / 914-737-2779
HH Hill Realty Services
peggylampman.com / 518-851-2278
Historic Huguenot Street
pepactonnaturalfoods.com / 607-498-9909
Houlihan Lawrence Lagrangeville
phoeniciavoicefest.org / 845-688-3291
HOUSE Hudson Valley Realty
914-236-3393
The Hudson Company
Hudson River Expeditions
Hudson River Valley Greenway hudsonrivervalleyramble.com
The Hudson Room
tacodivebar.com / 914-788-TACO
Hudson Valley Home Source hvhomesource.com / 845-294-5664
Hudson Valley Wine & Food Festival hudsonvalleywinefest.com
Hudson Woods
hudsonwoods.com / 212-233-9188
Institute for Creative Studies gurdjieffbennettnyc.com/Mindfulness
JMS Collective 518-719-1600
Kaaterskill Associates keaeng.com / 518-622-9667
Kasuri
kasuri.com 518.249.4786
Keller Williams Upstate NY Properties
stackpageproperties.com / 607-435-0125 / 607-316-7474
Kingston Stockade Football Club stockadefc.com
tourputnam.org
quatrefoil.us / 845-773-924
ronnybrook.com / 518-398-6455
Roscoe Beer Company roscoebeercompany.com
Rudolf Steiner School gbrss.org / 413-528-4015
Ryan Cronin Gallery
ryancroningallery.com / 845-430-8470
Select Sotheby’s International 518-929-9000
Sherwood Group
sherwoodgroupny.com / 518-668-9500
Steve Morris Designs
stevemorrisdesigns.com / 845-417-1819
Stewart Airport, Port Authority NY-NJ panynj.gov/airports/stewart.html / 845-838-8201
Stony Point Wine and Spirit 845-947-1799
Tiny Houses of the Hudson Valley, LLC tinyhousesofthehudsonvalley.com / 845-481-5820
Transpersonal Acupuncture
transpersonalacupuncture.com / 845-340-8625
Luminary Media
Ulster Savings Bank
Main Course
Union Arts Center
Makovic Homes
Westwood Metes & Bounds Realty
Malouf’s Mountain Sunset Camp
Wild Earth Programs
McCaffrey Real Estate
William Wallace Construction
Menla Mountain Retreat & Conference Center
Willow Realty
Michael McDonough Architecture
Wm. Farmer & Sons
Middlehope Veterinary Hospital
Woodstock Playhouse
Murray’s Tivoli
Zimmer Brothers
luminarymedia.com / 845-334-8599
ulstersavings.com / 845-338-6323
maincoursecatering.com / 845-255-2601
uacny.com / 845-359-0258
besthomesonearth.com / 845-796-4663
westwoodrealty.com / 845-340-1921
maloufsmountain.com
mccaffreyrealty.com / 845-265-4113 menla.org / 845-688-6898 646-413-2760
petnplayresort.com / 845-764-9903 murraystivoli.com / 845-757-6004
wildearth.org
williamwallaceconstruction.com / 845-679-2131 845-255-7666
wmfarmerandsons.com / 518-828-1636 woodstockplayhouse.org / 845-679-6900 zimmerbrothers.com /845-876-6364 SUMMER 2016
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LAST LOOK
S T O RY B Y N I C O L E H I T N E R
Photo provided by Tentrr
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CAMPLANDIA! Tentrr’s indispensability becomes obvious the moment you learn what it does. The latest in a long line of web startups with creatively spelled names, Tentrr enables users to spend time in nature without actually having to rough it. It’s an outdoors version of AirBnB, offering furnished, even luxurious campsites and connecting users and providers through technology. Michael D’Agostino got the idea for Tentrr a few summers back when he and his wife, Eloise, traveled from their home in New York City to Martha’s Vineyard on vacation. Unable to find a campsite vacancy, they settled for a costlier and decidedly less satisfying vacation rental. Wandering around the island, they noticed how much of its open space was marked with “No Trespassing” signs. “Tentrr was born out of a lifelong love of camping and increasing frustration, on my part, that you can’t enjoy the great outdoors how, when, and where you want to,” says D’Agostino. “And so I wanted to create a platform for myself where I could sign up to camp in beautiful spots serenely and privately in a way that was never really possible before.” As the then managing director of capital markets at the New York Stock Exchange, D’Agostino had already encountered tech entrepreneur giants like Shutterstock founder Jon Oringer, and was familiar with the “shared experience economy”—the exchange model behind businesses like Uber and AirBnB. So, putting his professional background to work, D’Agostino set about reinventing the outdoor discovery industry, left
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Wall Street and launched Tentrr from Manhattan in March 2015. Now in its second season, Tentrr is focusing on the Catskills, with 200 campsites there, but plans to expand throughout the Mid-Atlantic region as the business takes off, and eventually go nationwide. Here’s how Tentrr works: Landowners interested in sharing their scenic open spaces with the public sign up to become “campkeepers,” and Tentrr installs a campsite on the grounds. Each site features an American-made canvas safari tent erected atop a wooden platform; a cleverly designed picnic table that doubles as storage; a grill, fire pit, sun shower, and camp toilet; and a second pop-up tent for larger parties. From there, the booking process is simple: After some vetting and clarification on items included in the booking fee (for example, firewood isn’t), the campsite is reserved for an average price of $120 per night. So far, says D’Agostino, Tentrr has received “intensely positive feedback from both our campers and our campkeepers.” Each campsite is designed to accommodate up to 14 people, making it ideal for group getaways, although D’Agostino reports that one couple booked a Tentrr campsite in Delhi for their honeymoon. In an effort to encourage second-home owners and other potential campkeepers to have campsites installed for the 2016 season, Tentrr is waiving the installation fee this year. Campkeepers can make between $6,000 and $8,000 per season, “so it’s a worthwhile investment,” says D’Agostino. Plus, becoming a campkeeper means creating priceless memories for campers, like the one a little girl and her family shared last summer when, from their Tentrr campsite, they spotted six shooting stars in one night. u LEARN MORE ABOUT TENTRR AT upstater.com/tentrr
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