In the standard story, the arrival of Dia Beacon in 2003 singlehandedly stimulated the city's revival after three decades of decline. Now, Beacon is a vibrant tourist mecca and commercial hub that attracts newcomers in droves, many of them, it seems, from Brooklyn. Their baby carriages clog the sidewalks.
The Brooklyn trope is true. The Dia myth is not. It's also correct that currents of history and environmental activism continue to shape the city as new residents bring economy-shaking wealth and an idealism that puts Beacon at the forefront of ecological innovation.
One of the earliest city dwellers to move north, Mayflower descendent Joseph Howland, left a lasting legacy. His creepy Gothic Revival mansion, Tioronda, built in 1859, became the famous Craig House sanitarium, where Jackie Gleason, Truman Capote, Zelda Fitzgerald and Rosemary Kennedy received treatment.
Marilyn Monroe may have spent time there, but Frances Ford Seymour, mother of Peter and Jane Fonda, definitely killed herself with a razor on the premises in 1950. Developers plan to turn the main house and the 64 surrounding acres into an 85-room inn and spa under the Mirbeau brand, which currently operates hotel and spa facilities in Rhinebeck, Albany, and Skaneateles.
Howland also built a jewel box of a library at the east end of Main Street that has served as the Howland Cultural Center since the late 1970s and continues to bring an array of arts programming downtown. In 2007, the center installed a geothermal heating system, getting a jump on environmental trends.
Beacon's most famous transplant, Manhattan-born folk singer Pete Seeger, embodied the ethos that echoes today. First came the summer camp Nitgedaiget ("no worries" in Yiddish), which operated from 1922 to the 1950s on a 250-acre footprint in the shadow of Mount Beacon across the street from Tioronda. Many camp buildings remain and the grounds include a disc golf course and a web of hiking trails.
Through its lifespan, the operation catered to communist sympathizers affiliated with radical trade unions and featured a four-story hotel. Drawn to likeminded ideologues, Seeger bought a plot for $1,700 in 1949, built a log cabin and lived off the grid, burning firewood, growing his own food, and driving an electric truck powered by batteries and solar collectors.
He also spearheaded a broader environmental movement with the sloop Clearwater, which continues to advocate for the Hudson River.
Pioneering Environmental Legislation
The impact of city natives moving to the sticks and trying to improve the surroundings resonates today. In March, Beacon became the state's third municipality after Ithaca and New York City to adopt a fossil fuel ban for new residential construction. The law also applies to major renovations. In a city with a lot of old buildings that are being bought up by absentee developers, this is a significant policy shift. The ordinance is designed to be replicable by other municipalities, says Dan Aymar-Blair, the city council member who introduced the bill. "Some of the common sense exceptions and other criteria written into the statute are consistent with what's being proposed in Albany," says Aymar-Blair, who brought one child up from New York City and had another one after he moved.
City officials also plan to educate and encourage residents to take advantage of federal incentives to replace outmoded appliances, he says. "I'm all for a clean environment," says sixth-generation realtor Jonathan Miller, who is skeptical of the plan. "But the renovation costs will be passed on to buyers and renters."
The city's Conservation Advisory Committee remains out in front on other ecological innovations. A composting program, initiated last year, now involves around 450 households and has diverted 60,000 pounds of food scraps and other organic material from the landfill.
One goal is to offer home pick up of compost, which would likely expand the program, says committee chairman Sergei Krasikov, who relocated from Brooklyn with one child in tow and now has two.
Committee members have shared their expertise with other towns in the valley and also plan to implement a composting pilot program with several local restaurants. The school system represents a more formidable frontier.
"In schools, it usually depends on a dedicated teacher and some kids in a green club to run the program and educate their peers," Krasikov says. "There is reluctance to engage in the extra work it takes, but we're trying to figure out the logistics."
The committee also introduced pollinator pathways at the high school and middle school, which sit across the street from each other in an open plain north of the city center. This movement, which is spreading across the region, calls for removing invasive species, planting patches of native vegetation and letting lawns grow wild to attract birds, bees, moths, and other threatened insects.
"We're establishing no-mow areas that we're marking off with stakes and fencing," said Krasikov. "People complain that it doesn't look tidy and will attract ticks, but you don't have to run through the tall grass, there's pathways around it. If we do it right, after five years, we'll have a self-sustaining meadow."
Still Shining
In Beacon, the past is never too far removed from the present. In 2017, the city named a bridge over Fishkill Creek after Ron and Ronnie Sauers, who helped spearhead a real estate revival after the factories shuttered and boat traffic on the liquid highway dried up in the late 1960s.The couple came from Long Island in the 1980s and started refurbishing properties along Main Street, where they joined other like-minded antique and boutique shop owners (including pioneers like John Gilvey of Hudson Beach Glass).
Ron passed away in 2011, but Ronnie is still around. She recently sold the building that housed her interior design showroom to another pre-Dia pioneer, Ken Berisha, who owns Brothers Trattoria and arrived in 1990. He credits the 1994 Paul Newman movie Nobody's Fool, filmed around town, with putting Beacon on the map.
Several shops celebrate the retro aesthetic. Wonderbar, restored by Brendan McAlpine and Marjorie Tarter, revived an Art Deco cocktail lounge that operated in the 1930s. Beacon Bath & Bubble sells old-fashioned sodas, including Moxie and Dad's root beer (as well as handcrafted soaps). A museum-worthy display case stuffed with memorabilia documents the city's heyday.
Open only a few months, House of Maxx pays homage to the swinging 1960s. Some of their candles, sprinkled with crystals and other items on top, resemble ice cream sundaes.
At Witch Please, open since last October in a corner of the old Matteawan train station, reiki-charged candles with crystals at the bottom are poured during full moons and new moons (along with lunar and solar eclipses).
Beacon loves a parade and other displays of civic pride. The dog parade, the St. Patrick's procession, and the Spirit of Beacon event are always well attended.
Introduced last year, Beacon Bonfire plans to continue warming the evening skies during a weekend in November and evokes the city's namesake signal fires atop Mount Beacon that relayed British troop movements during the Revolutionary War (one if by land...).
It's taking some time for the city's First Friday and Second Saturday retail promotional evenings to get back in the swing, but last month, Main Street Music revived its open acoustic jam circle and put out wine and snacks. Designer toy gallery Clutter held a raucous opening attended by local resident and internationally renowned artist Ron English.
English credits gallerist Ethan Cohen, who turned the former high school into art studios and gallery space, with bringing him to town. Despite his neon green jacket, he blended into the crowd. "Typically, I would need bodyguards for an event like this," he says, but all he had to do was sign a toy box for a fan and pose for a selfie.
Though the past is ever-present here, the future has arrived. All the groundwork laid for the city's revival unleashed the same forces buffeting other valley towns.
In December, Long Island developer Rockridge Real Estate bought 340 Main Street, putting a barbershop (28 years), restaurant (28 years) and flower store (37 years) out of business and signaling the end of modest rents for longstanding local establishments.
The monthly rent at Batt's Florist, for example, rose from $1,200 to $3,300 plus extra maintenance fees. On Easter Sunday, court papers detailing their eviction lawsuit dangled from the store's doorknob and dead flowers desiccated inside. The Beahive coworking space plans to move into three former storefronts—one including the restaurant—once renovations are completed in May after 14 years down the street in the Telephone Building.
"I'm worried about Beacon," says Main Street Music proprietor David Bernz, who has lived in town since 1991 and won two Grammy awards with Pete Seeger. "I'm glad people like to come here, but it's become a haven for rich people. I wish I could freeze it in place."
