Highlands Current Audio Stories

Beacon developer ordered to make project right

The developer of a Main Street building in Beacon must return to the Planning Board on Tuesday (July 14) with a "full, complete and comprehensive" list of how the nearly complete structure at 364 Main deviated from a site plan approved four years ago.

The property owner, Eric Baxter, and other project officials came to the board in May seeking approval of an amended site plan after acknowledging that nearly two dozen features on the building — material selections, window and facade details, the replacement of Juliet balconies and others — had been changed during construction. With Chair John Gunn absent, board members rebuked Baxter but took no action. Last month, Gunn took the project team to task.

Applications for prominent sites such as 364 "establish our Main Street," Gunn said on June 9. "Our Main Street," he repeated, with emphasis. "The Main Street we all have to look at, experience and live with, and this applicant ignored all of the time that we put in to that review."

His voice raised sharply, Gunn said he was "beyond angry at the waste of our time, including this time" spent reviewing the plan again. "I want it known by every applicant that we don't sit here just for our health, or for the fun of it. This is a waste of our time, and I'm tired of it. I want that clear," he said.

Gunn said he expected the applicant to return this month with a list of "every single item" that deviates from the plan approved in April 2022. "And I'm not going to talk any more about this until next month when we have that list, and we're going to go line by line, is that clear?" he said.

"It's very clear," said Taylor Palmer, the developer's attorney. The project team is taking the matter "very seriously," he said, and intends to "make this project better overall, not just return to center."

A public hearing will be required before the board can approve changes, but Gunn said it is too early to schedule one. Once complete, the three-story building will have commercial space on the first floor and 20 apartments on the second and third.

A public hearing will continue Tuesday on a proposal to convert an art gallery at 1154 North Ave. (Route 9D) to a karaoke bar.

The project was introduced in May and drew immediate pushback from neighbors, who said that people congregating at the venue late at night would disrupt nearby residences. In response, the project team submitted a five-page management plan last month that it said could allay some concerns.

It states that the venue will operate primarily via online reservations, though walk-ins may be accommodated if capacity allows. Walk-ins who cannot be accommodated will either wait at the bar or leave and receive a text notification when space is available. Staff will be trained to address capacity-related issues.

Patrons will not be permitted to congregate on sidewalks, at the rear of the building or near emergency exits, the plan says. A rear exit will be used for emergencies only. Smoking will be permitted in a designated outdoor area on the southwest corner of the building, but the space will not be used as "an outdoor gathering area."

The venue is proposed to be closed on Monday and Tuesday, and open from 2 p.m. to midnight on Wednesday and Thursday, noon to 1:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday and from noon to 11 p.m. on Sunday. On holiday weekends, Sundays would revert to Saturday hours.

"That means a Sunday goes to 1:30 a.m. on a holiday? I don't know about that," Gunn said during a June 9 meeting.

The applicant, Eric Weitner, said he had based the hours on comparable businesses, including the Vinyl Room and Piggy Bank (both open until 2 a.m. on weekends) and the Happy Valley Arcade Bar (open until 1:30 a.m. on weekends). But if the Sunday schedule is a problem, "we're amenable to bringing that back," he said.

Patrons would be encouraged to use public transportation or park on-street or in one of the nearby municipal lots.

Noise has been the gre...

Also, updates on creekside zoning, cable franchises

Ben Swanson was sworn in on Monday (July 6) by Mayor Lee Kyriacou as Beacon's city administrator, completing a seven-month ascension that included a few unexpected steps along the way.

After being named the city's first deputy administrator in December, Swanson, 32, learned three months later he would become interim administrator following the retirement of Chris White, planned for June. Three weeks later, on April 6, the council voted to name Swanson the administrator (removing the interim designation) when White retired.

White took a leave of absence in mid-April and did not return, speeding up the transition. Monday's swearing-in finally made everything official.

Swanson was hired in 2021 as assistant to the mayor. As city administrator, he will manage Beacon's day-to-day operations and oversee a workforce of about 130 employees. The city intends to hire a deputy to assist Swanson and has received 85 applications.

The council was briefed Monday on a proposal to develop 555 South Ave., an 11-acre former industrial site on the banks of Fishkill Creek. The property was the home of the Tioronda Hat Works Factory from 1878 to 1919.

According to the state Department of Environmental Conservation, "hat works-related activities" continued until at least 1946, after which the Atlas Fiber Co., Chemical Rubber Products Inc. and BASF Colors and Chemicals occupied the eight-building site. It has been vacant since 1995 and was sold in 2016 to Rodney Weber, a developer who owns the Edgewater complex and several properties on Creek Drive, among others in Beacon.

The Hat Factory property was contaminated by at least a dozen chemicals "of concern" but has been remediated through the DEC's Brownfield Cleanup Program. The agency said the site is suitable for "restricted-residential" uses such as multi-family housing, condominiums and apartment buildings, but not single-family homes.

On Monday, City Attorney Nick Ward-Willis told the council that Weber intends to submit an application to construct a hotel on the property. Hotels are not allowed in the Fishkill Creek Development District, although bed-and-breakfasts and inns (defined by the city as a hotel with 10 or fewer guest rooms) are permitted.

The council could amend the code to allow a hotel, a move Kyriacou said could have positive ripple effects.

"We're at the stage now where we want" hotels, he said, noting that changes to creekside zoning regulations would give him "more comfort in saying, 'Let's look at our short-term rentals and start to reduce them.'" If there are alternatives, "we want those short-term rentals to go to long-term apartments," he said.

Council Member Paloma Wake said she believes the city should be "looking at this holistically," because hotels are often used as backup sites for emergency housing, which Beacon lacks.

The council held a public hearing on Monday on Verizon New York's application for a franchise agreement to provide TV service through its fiber-optic network. The company already provides internet service in the city.

The council approved a 10-year renewal of a similar, non-exclusive agreement with Optimum, aka Cablevision of Wappingers Falls, in December. If the Verizon pact is approved, there would be competing cable providers in Beacon for the first time in 40 years, said Pamela Goldstein, a company representative.

The agreement would encompass all of Beacon, although Verizon's network only covers about 55 percent of the city. There are no plans to expand, Goldstein said. Federal law allows the city to collect 5 percent of franchisees' gross revenues. In 2024, Optimum paid the city $172,393.

One person spoke during the hearing but did not express an opinion on the franchise agreement.

The council approved three resolutions Monday regarding the city's historic district. The first added two properties whose owners agreed to the designation: 22 South Ave. and the Elks Lodge at 900 Wolcott Ave. Th...

Silent Book Club meets monthly in Beacon

When it came time for chatting to cease, participants in the Beacon chapter of the Silent Book Club pulled out earplugs and headphones to block out background noise. Then the action began: Everyone started to read.

Typically held monthly, this meetup took place at Hudson Valley Brewing, but the group bounces around town and sometimes meets at Long Dock Park. "It's happy hour for introverts," says organizer Christina Hellman, who was reading The Night Guest, by Hildur Knutsdottir.

Created in San Francisco 14 years ago by two friends, the concept now has some 2,000 chapters worldwide. Unlike book groups that read the same title, "we have no rules," says Hellman. "You just show up and dive in, maybe buy some drinks. It's a BYO book club where you come and go as you like."

Like Write Today Beacon, a writing club in which co-organizer Lily Friedrich sets a timer for 20 minutes and everyone hunkers down, 20- and 30-somethings have found ways to socialize around the solitary.

The book club premise provides an informal, no-pressure atmosphere for word nerds. Hellman reads the room and goes with the flow as the group seesaws between reading and schmoozing.

Once in a while, the format changes. At Yappy Hours, there is no break to read, though people can of course pull out a book and find a corner at any time. On July 1, Hellman hosted the latest in a series of Listen & Craft sessions at the Salvation Army on Main Street, i.e., "listen to your audiobook while you puzzle, draw, knit, etc."

The club's catchphrase is "What are You Reading?" At Hudson Valley Brewery, Kelsey Butkiewicz dug into Kin by Tayari Jones on a tablet. Andrea Knox (Shadows in Flight, by Orson Scott Card) had moved to Beacon three weeks before the meeting, and Britt Rivera pored over Homer's The Odyssey.

Participants also goofed around on the balcony, gushing over passions like comics, VHS tapes, pinball machines and vintage computer games. Dave Taetsel (Truth of the Divine, by Lindsay Ellis) and Travis Bederka (Closing Time, by Joseph Heller) geeked out over the "janky curves" of analog televisions.

"I have many interests," says Bederka in a deep, dramatic voice, including polar exploration, the Roman Empire, European history from 1500 to 1800, 19th-century Germany and World War II.

Hellman, who was born and raised in Germany by parents from the Philippines, met and married an American serviceman and lives in Newburgh. The couple plans to relocate at some point, but "there have been many offers to host, so I'm sure the club will live on after I'm gone."

She first attended a club meeting in May 2024, a few months after Jessenya Alicea and DJ McErlean started it, and helped out with social media and logo design. "I've made friends with people I never would have met otherwise," Hellman says. "One member says that everyone she knows in Beacon is from the club."

The Silent Book Club meets at 6 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month at Savage Wonder, 139 Main St., in Beacon. Its next meetings are July 15 and Aug. 19. It will also meet at 10 a.m. on July 31 at Bank Square Coffeehouse, 129 Main St. See facebook.com/groups/silentbookclubbeacon or instagram.com/silentbookclubbeacon.

Statue, Declaration display damaged

Police are investigating political messages scrawled on a replica of the Declaration of Independence displayed at Putnam County's Historic Courthouse and damage to a newly restored statue of Sybil Ludington, a Revolutionary War hero.

County Executive Kevin Byrne said on Tuesday (July 7) that a large reproduction of the Declaration hung on the face of the courthouse in Carmel for residents to sign on the Fourth of July had been removed the same day after being "defaced with political graffiti."

On Wednesday, the Sheriff's Office announced an investigation into damage to the base of the Ludington statue, five days after police officers and firefighters escorted the figure back to the shore of Lake Gleneida in Carmel following a $100,000 restoration.

Photos provided by the county showed some of the messages on the Declaration. Amid the signatures of residents were scribbles, some with misspellings, such as "5000 children in consencration camps god is telling you – stop being cruel usa 2026," "500 years genocide," "Free Palestine," "Stop ICE" and "Abolish Millionaires."

The Town of Carmel Police Department said it received a call about the graffiti on the afternoon of July 4. Because the incident occurred on county property, it handed the investigation over to the Sheriff's Office.

Security videos "are being reviewed to help verify the identities of those responsible" for the writings, said Byrne. He also said a replacement replica will be displayed for people to sign during the Putnam Lake Rev 250 Parade on July 11 and the county fair on July 25 and 26.

The Declaration of Independence "deserves to be treated with dignity and respect," said Byrne. "Every American enjoys the constitutional right to free speech, but intentionally defacing a public display created for families to celebrate our history and heritage is not an act of civic engagement; it is an act of gross disrespect."

Putnam first displayed the reproduction during its Putnam County Heroes Battle the Redcoats reenactment on June 6, and Byrne said he was among hundreds of people who signed the document. It was also displayed on July 3, when the county reinstalled the restored bronze statue of Ludington, a 16-year-old from Kent credited with riding 40 miles on horseback in 1777 to warn her father's militia about a British raid on Danbury, Connecticut.

Since being installed at Lake Gleneida in 1961, the 4,000-pound statue has been the target of vandalism and graffiti, necessitating frequent cleaning, according to the Historian's Office. It returned to Lake Gleneida with its surface polished and its base rebuilt to fortify it against water damage.

Someone reported damage to the base around 11:40 a.m. on Wednesday, according to the Sheriff's Office, which said its Bureau of Criminal Investigations responded, along with Putnam employees involved in the restoration. Investigators have not determined if the two incidents are related, but "will pursue all available investigative leads," said the Sheriff's Office.

Reservoir affected by recent storms

At the beginning of the Wednesday (July 8) meeting of the Cold Spring Village Board, Mayor Kathleen Foley clarified why a Stage 2 Water Emergency had been declared earlier in the day. [Update: The water emergency was rescinded on July 10.]

"We are not in a water shortage," she said. Instead, recent storms had overwhelmed the water treatment process with suspended solids, causing drinking water to become turbid or cloudy. In response, the village is trucking water to holding tanks at the Fishkill Road plant.

During the emergency, water system users are required to identify and stop all leaks; cease washing vehicles, building exteriors or outside areas; refrain from watering lawns, ornamental shrubs, plants, trees or gardens; irrigate vegetables or fruits for human consumption from hand-held containers only; and refrain from filling and/or maintaining levels in swimming pools, hot tubs and similar recreational pools.

Bars, bed & breakfasts, coffee shops, hotels and restaurants should provide drinking water only upon request, and hotels, bed & breakfasts and short-term rentals should wash guest linens only upon request.

The water superintendent, code enforcement officer and Cold Spring Police Department will enforce the order, the village said.

Foley said that, before the July 5 storm, debris had been cleared from Back Brook in anticipation of heavy flows. The large number of private drains that flow into the brook needs to be factored into the watershed assessment, she said.

Fuss and O'Neill Engineering is conducting a Flood Resilience Study focusing on the Back Brook watershed, a 160-acre drainage area that carries stormwater from as far upstream as Bull Hill to culverts beneath Fair Street, which empty into the Hudson River. The firm will host a public workshop later this year.

Before its meeting, the board held back-to-back executive sessions that lasted nearly three hours. The first dealt with litigation and the proposed acquisition of real estate, while the second dealt with personnel issues.

The board accepted a low bid of $16,800 from WBE Fence Co. for chain-link fence replacement at the Wastewater Treatment Plant. It will be funded with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) money received after the severe storms in 2023.

The Cold Spring Fire Co. responded to 21 calls in June, including eight activated fire and CO2 alarms, six assists to emergency medical services, four structure fires and downed wires, two gas odor or smoke investigations and a residential dumpster fire.

The Cold Spring Police Department responded to 154 calls in June, including 21 medical assists and six fire assists. Officers made a dozen traffic stops, issuing eight warnings and four tickets.

Todd Seekircher resigned from the Historic District Review Board. The village will advertise to fill the vacancy.

Environmental group says advocacy led to dismissal

A highlight of America's bicentennial in 1976 was Operation Sail, a parade of tall ships around New York City that featured the sloop Clearwater, representing the environmental organization of the same name created by folk icons Pete and Toshi Seeger of Beacon.

The parade returned to New York City on July 4, this time as Sail4th 250 in honor of the nation's 250th birthday. But it sailed with one notable absence. Around 11 a.m., shortly after the parade began, the Clearwater was approached on both sides by U.S. Coast Guard boats and told to exit immediately.

The sloop had been scheduled to escort the NRP Sagres, a Portuguese Navy ship. Instead, it was escorted from the parade route by the Coast Guard, Navy and New York Police Department, and had to wait until the parade was over to return to its current port at the Atlantic Basin in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

"I was shouting at them [from the deck of the ship], 'Folks, we're part of this parade!'" said David Toman, the executive director of Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, which is based in Beacon. "We're part of this all!"

Toman said crew members were not immediately told why the sloop was being removed from the parade, and a call to organizers provided little clarity.

"They told us they were unaware of this and that the decision was being made above their heads," said Toman. It was later that someone from one of the Coast Guard vessels told Capt. Rory Kane that it was because of the ship's banners, Toman said.

One side of the ship's sail carried a banner that read: "Save the Clean Water Act," with a drawing of Pete Seeger's banjo. The other had a banner that read: "Indigenous Rights, Racial Justice, Climate Solutions."

A Coast Guard representative told The Current: "As part of the parade of sail, participants agreed to conditions established by Sail4th. One of those conditions was to not display political or politically charged messages/statements. The owner of the sloop Clearwater was contacted and requested to remove the message being displayed or be removed from the parade of sail. They declined to remove it. So, the Coast Guard enforced the agreement on behalf of Sail4th, removing the vessel from the parade."

But Jen Benson of Clearwater, who was on the sloop, said there was no communication from either Sail250 or the Coast Guard regarding the banners. "We were not given an option to remove the banners and continue in the parade," she said.

Toman said that no such restrictions existed, only that ships were instructed not to carry banners that could be considered "promotional." A copy of Clearwater's contract with Sail4th 250 that was provided to The Current confirms there were no restrictions on political messaging, only that the ship "may not display any flags, signs or distribute any literature that includes sponsorship names and/or logos without providing examples of these items in advance and receiving express written permission."

Sail4th 250 did not respond to numerous requests for comment.

"We've been part of the coordination of Sail250 from the very beginning," Toman said. "We signed a contract last year, went to every meeting." While he acknowledged that Sail250 did not specifically approve the sloop's banners, he said he saw other ships in the parade also flying banners.

"We're known as America's environmental flagship," he said. "We've been known to fly banners from our sails, as they know. And besides, Sail250 did not tell us to leave the parade."

In 1986, the Clearwater took part in the Operation Sail tall ship parade in New York Harbor to celebrate the rededication of the Statue of Liberty. During the parade, the sloop flew two banners from its sails. One read: "Peace on Earth, And Sea, and Sky," and another expressed solidarity with the Rainbow Warrior, a Greenpeace ship that had been sunk by France while in a New Zealand harbor, killing a photographer who was on board.

By Brian PJ Cronin

The "Save the Clean Wat...

East Fishkill approves moratorium

When Debra Pagano heard that a developer was proposing a 1-gigawatt AI data center in East Fishkill, she asked her son in Texas what he thought of the controversial facilities.

With 466 currently operating or planned data centers, Texas has more than any other state except Virginia, according to the Pew Research Center. "I asked his opinion — if it was to their advantage or not," said Pagano. "He said, 'If you can put the brakes [on] in any way to stop it from coming, especially to this area, do it.'"

East Fishkill's Town Board applied those brakes on June 25. After a nearly two-hour public hearing during which Pagano and other residents aired emotions ranging from concern to fear, the board approved a three-year moratorium on data centers, which are facing a nationwide backlash as their construction accelerates to meet the large energy demands of AI.

New York's Legislature approved a one-year moratorium that needs Gov. Kathy Hochul's signature to take effect. Several upstate towns have also hit pause on any new projects, and Orangetown officials in Rockland County are weighing a moratorium for their town, which has several existing centers.

East Fishkill's moratorium, lasting until July 1, 2029, prohibits permitting or consideration of any data center "until the completion of federal and state studies" of their power and water usage, noise and heat emissions. The town allows an exception for projects "ancillary to an existing or permitted use" and less than 20 megawatts, or ones eligible for an economic-development special permit.

It passed amid protests from residents who learned that Treetop Companies had asked the New York Independent System Operator, which operates the state's electric grid, to study the impact of an AI-processing and cloud-computing center at its property off of Donovan Drive. While the center would connect to ConEd's grid, the study will also look at its effect on Central Hudson and NYSEG's systems.

Nick D'Alessandro, East Fishkill's supervisor, has emphasized that Treetop does not have a formal application with the town, but he said before the public hearing that "the people speak, the government listens and the government acts responsibly." He also said a "significant use" like a data center requires "impactful thought" by professionals and the public.

"A moratorium gives us time," said D'Alessandro. "Time to study the infrastructure impacts and the environmental impacts. Time to hear from the experts."

With its timeout, East Fishkill joins a movement that has led to more than 100 active moratoriums nationwide and permanent bans by eight municipalities and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, according to the U.S. Data Center Moratorium Tracker.

The warehouse-sized centers house rows of servers that are the repositories and waystations for the documents, images and video stored and shared by Americans through their smartphones and computers. Their construction has accelerated in recent years, driven first by cloud computing and cryptocurrency mining, and now by the processing needs of AI.

Behind the backlash are economic and environmental concerns: the effect of the power-hungry facilities on household electricity rates; their thirst for large amounts of water to cool equipment and the impact on wells; and other issues such as noise and traffic. A proposal to build a 200-megawatt data facility at Indian Point is also being studied by NYISO.

Tanya Radford, an East Fishkill resident, who gets her electricity through Central Hudson, said any project should be subject to a "robust environmental review" that assesses "air, water, noise and light pollution." She also said that developers should pay for any new energy infrastructure they need.

"Ratepayers and communities should not have to pay for new infrastructure that supports new industry," said Radford. "Large commercial industrial users should pay premium prices rather than get sweetheart deals at...

Volunteers open paddling routes

The Fishkill Creek runs behind Sergei Krasikov's house and it wasn't long after he moved to Beacon that he began to wonder: How much of this is navigable?

A quick scan of Google Maps revealed the numerous dams which make canoeing and kayaking the entire 33.5-mile creek from Pray Pond in Unionvale to Madam Brett Park in Beacon impossible, and by late summer some sections are too shallow to paddle. But a few segments seemed open enough to encourage exploring.

"That first year or two we paddled from Long Dock into Madam Brett Park, and from Van Pelt Park upstream to the Walmart in Fishkill," said Krasikov, who was elected to the Beacon City Council last year.

Then came the macroburst storm of 2018, and much of the creek became jammed with downed trees. Further paddling was out of the question.

Krasikov then learned about a defunct group called the Fishkill Creek Watershed Association, which had done everything from developing a natural resource management plan to dragging discarded Christmas trees to the banks of the creek to slow erosion. In 2023, Krasikov founded a new group called the Fishkill Creek Watershed Alliance to carry on the association's work. "They produced great reports," he said. "We're still using them."

Since its inception, the Alliance has regularly tested for water quality in the creek and looked at the effects that industry and invasive species are having on its watershed. Through his work with the Alliance, Krasikov met Russel Faller from the Mid-Hudson chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club and a former member of the Fishkill Creek Watershed Association. Faller mentioned that he used to lead work parties on the creek to keep it clear for paddling, but since the Association's disbanding there was no one to help him.

And so last weekend Krasikov, Faller and almost a dozen volunteers in kayaks, surf kayaks, canoes and inflatable standup paddleboards met at Doug Phillips Park in Fishkill. They hailed from all over the Hudson Valley; some were already Alliance members, while others were curious paddlers looking for an excuse to explore someplace new. Armed with hacksaws and ropes, they paddled a little over 2 miles upstream, removing downed trees and logjams, some of which looked like they had been in place since the macroburst.

Much of this stretch of the creek is flanked by tall grasses, thickly wooded forests and very few houses. Just a few minutes into the paddle it's easy to get the impression that one is deep in the remote wilderness despite being a few hundred feet away from a bowling alley. One of the only signs of human civilization was a dog chasing a blue heron into the creek. Even litter was sparse, and the one or two beer cans the group did find were, judging from their design, several decades old. Deer and raccoon tracks could be found along the shore.

Without chainsaws, much of the work was slow going. Sawing through one particularly large red oak took four people about half an hour. And a logjam just downstream of the junction with Sprout Creek was so dense that it originally looked like Fishkill Creek simply ended there. But after another few hours of sawing and pulling, the water flow was restored and the section was navigable once again.

The Fishkill Creek Watershed Alliance's website now has a page dedicated to paddling the creek, with maps to three cleared and navigable sections along with safety tips and other pointers. The most dangerous thing the group encountered last weekend was low-hanging poison ivy, but during a few sections paddlers had to get out and pull their crafts around shallow sections with surprisingly quick rapids. Even the deeper sections are shallow enough that standup paddleboarders should remain seated, bring along a kayak paddle and, if possible, remove the tail fin.

It'll take regular maintenance to keep the creek open for paddling, but Krasikov is already thinking ahead. Riverkeeper has had success removing several defunct dams i...

Mandeville hosted a revolution

Last month at Mandeville House in Garrison, attendees ate French fromage and drank Perrier and Champagne. Dressed in Revolutionary War garb, Mark Forlow wielded a scabbard to slice open a bottle of Veuve Clicquot with a clean cut through the glass instead of popping the cork.

"You have to suspend the neck in ice for an hour or so," he says. "I've seen people do this with a butter knife."

The French-themed fete on June 13 paid homage to the Marquis de Lafayette and the pivotal assistance from France during the Revolutionary War. Julien Icher, founder of the Lafayette Trail, a Maryland-based nonprofit, installed a marker a half-mile south from the intersection of Route 9D and Route 403 at the former site of loyalist Beverley Robinson's home. (It burned down in 1892.)

George Washington, Lafayette and a who's who of big names stayed and strategized there and at Mandeville House, built in 1737.

Gen. Israel Putnam used Mandeville as his headquarters during the entire war, says new steward Sarajane Brittis. People thought that the general's wife, Deborah Lathrop, died in the house after the fall of Forts Clinton and Montgomery in 1777, but she may have been buried alive, says Brittis.

Tours are available today and tomorrow (July 4); dates are also planned in October. Owned by the Perry Gething Foundation, Mandeville held regular open houses in the spring and fall, except during the pandemic, says Brittis, who helped the former stewards, Katherine Perry and Robert Perry, her aunt and uncle. They died recently and Brittis took over in 2023.

The foundation derives from interior designer Margaret Allan Gething, who worked on Lyndhurst, Constitution Island and the White House. In the 1920s, she reverted Mandeville House to its colonial glory after architect Richard Upjohn bought the place in 1852 and altered the exterior. It remained a private home until Gething died in 1975. She never married and left the house in a charitable trust managed by Robert Perry.

Brittis has already reached out to Boscobel, the Putnam History Museum and the Desmond-Fish Library across the road. Beyond providing public access and serving bubbly, Brittis, who dresses in period costume when giving tours, seeks to expand educational programs.

In May, she thanked parents for bringing their children along: "It's important to inspire young people and others to keep history alive."

Just like 100 years ago, when Gething updated the house, stages of renovations are in store as an architectural firm prepares recommendations incorporating information gleaned by lasers and drones. During a recent tour, Brittis noted that the home reveals layers of history as the structure transformed from a colonial outpost to a modernized building.

"The house is a living museum that embodies domestic changes from candles to electricity and pewter to glass," says Brittis. "The community takes a lot of pride in its history, which will continue."

The interior confines also reveal the trajectory of human evolution since colonial days. Standing at 6-foot-4, and playing the role of George Washington at a recent event, architectural consultant James Barry continued bumping his head on the staircases.

"One time, I bit my gums," he said.

Walking in the Revolution's footsteps

One of the first thoughts that occurs to you when reading up on the history of the American Revolution in the Hudson Highlands is that they sure did a lot of walkin'.

Many of the routes they took were trails established by the Native Americans and animals of the Hudson Valley. A lot of those paths have since become beloved hiking trails, so there's a good chance that even the simplest of your local hikes will have you walking the same routes soldiers took on their way to light signal fires, watch over the river or perhaps commit a little light treason.

So grab ample supplies (water, snacks, bug spray, paper map, musket, tri-corner hat, secret intelligence about West Point stashed in your boot) and let's step back into history.

Trailhead: Pocket Road in Beacon (park on East Main)

Distance: 4 miles, out and back

Elevation gain: 1,125 feet

Approximate time: 2 – 3 hours

You probably already know that Mount Beacon is named after the signal fires set on its summit during the Revolutionary War. You also probably know about the Beacon Monument built by the Daughters of the American Revolution to honor those signal-keepers back on July 4, 1900. But it remains a seldom-visited spot, probably because it's at the end of an unmarked trail. The good news is that since I last wrote about the monument in 2024, it's become much easier to visit.

The easiest way to find the monument is to text Chris Cring at 845-249-5305. He's leading a hike to the monument tomorrow (July 4) on behalf of the Beacon Historical Society. The second easiest way is to head up the white-blazed Pocket Road Trail (technically the first part of the Fishkill Ridge Trail, but no one calls it that). Once you hit the Jeep Road (technically the Mount Beacon Monument Road, but no one calls it that despite it being the easiest way to get there), hang a right and head up to the reservoir.

Keep following the road past the reservoir for about half a mile until you pass a wide unblazed path ascending to your right (if you run into the radio towers, turn around because you missed it). Follow this wider path, ignoring the side paths, and you'll soon come into a clearing with the radio towers on your left, a smaller building on your right and low-strung telephone wires in front of you.

Hang a right and then walk around the back of the building, keeping the fence on your left. At one point you will pass through a narrow pathway surrounded by barbed wire on both sides. You will wonder if this means that you are trespassing. You're not, keep going. Once you pass this narrow section, the monument will be on your right, almost exactly 2 miles from the start of the Pocket Road Trail.

Trailhead: 1 Avery Road, Garrison

Distance: 3 miles, out and back

Elevation gain: 745 feet

Approximate time: 1.5 – 2.5 hours

The ruins of redoubts, small open forts made of earth and stones, can be found up and down the Hudson, as they played a vital role in securing control of the river during the war. These two redoubts overlook West Point and were therefore considered of strategic importance by both the Americans and the British (more on that below).

This is a popular hike in late fall or early spring, as the views are even better when the leaves are off the trees. But it is not without its summer charms: It's well-shaded, and the ample wineberries along the sides of the trail should make for fine mid-July snacking. Note that these prickly vines are quite thick in a few spots; long sleeves and pants are recommended.

You'll find the red-blazed trailhead at the end of the parking lot, leading into the woods. The trail runs parallel to Snake Hill Road and a brook for a while before turning away from the road and ascending. Note that the trail narrows here with a sharp drop-off on one side. This probably shouldn't be your toddler's first hike after they learn to walk.

At a half-mile in, the trail splits and a sign points to each redoubt. Head right for the North Redo...