If the famed artist-illustrator Norman Rockwell, known for his humorous and inspiring depictions of American life, were alive today, he would certainly be drawn to Cornwall, a town of about 15,000 in northeastern Orange County. From the boisterous motorcades through town whenever the Little League team wins a game, to toddlers dancing as parents stamp their feet at village bandshell concerts, to fresh-faced teenagers selling stacks of mums at the annual autumn street fair, the town epitomizes small-town America.
Situated at the foot of Storm King Mountain, the Town of Cornwall meanders for several scenic miles between busy Route 32 and the Hudson River. With its mix of Victorian-style homes, parkland, municipal buildings, businesses, churches, schools, restaurants, and shops, the town is as inviting as any in the Hudson Valley.
And that’s just the walkable part. On the other side of the highway lie the rolling hills, farmland, and hiking trails of the more rural Mountainville area, which is home to the world-renown Storm King Art Center. With approximately 16,000 people, the town includes the fully incorporated Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson (the Village) and covers some 27 square miles.
Agriculture Comes Full Circle
Norman Rockwell couldn’t ask for a better family to put around his famous Thanksgiving table than the Clearwaters, owners of Jones Farm and Country Store on Angola Road. The farm has been in the same family since Doris Clearwater’s great-grandfather John Jones purchased it from Emily Cromwell in 1914.
Originally a working dairy farm, it later went into poultry and egg production. Today it comprises 85 acres, with 10 acres under cultivation for fruit and vegetables. The family operates a farm and country store, bakery, gift shop, and the adjoining Clearwater’s Frame Shop and Gallery. Doris Clearwater and her husband Belding, now in their mid-eighties, still work 70 hours a week here.
Affectionately known as “Grandma,” Doris will graciously sell you some of the farm’s delicious homemade fudge, apple cider donuts, Linzer tarts, snicker doodle cookies, or carrot cake. Outside, visitors can enjoy the horses, chickens, and ducks the family keeps in a small corral.
“Sometimes, there are three generations behind the counter,” says David Clearwater, who lives with his wife, Terri, on the property and manages the business. His son Kenneth, a teacher, lives a half mile down the road. Daughter Catherine plans to join the business when she finishes college. Noting that they are one of the last farms left in Cornwall, Clearwater comments on a way of life. “Both my kids grew up on the farm, saw their grandparents every day. It’s quite a close, unusual connection,” he says.
If modern times have changed agriculture in the Hudson Valley, several people would like to bring it back to its roots.
Guy Jones, the well-known organic farmer, recently purchased 110 acres of agricultural and fully developed forest land in the Mountainville section of Cornwall, where he has established community gardens.
“We’re trying to create an opportunity for people in the community to learn how to grow their own food; we instruct them on how to plant, maintain a garden, and extend the growing season,” says Jones, who is a partner with his sister, Cindy Jones, in nearby Blooming Hill Farm.
In January 2009, the Cornwall Community Cooperative was established. Its purpose is to bring local and regional food options to the area. Member-owners are given a discount on the meat, produce, dairy products, and other items, which include rice, bread, cereals, and canned goods. The cooperative’s storefront is located in the village, and is presently open Thursday through Saturday.
A Busy Town Center, Then and Now
English navigator Henry Hudson first anchored off of Cornwall in 1609, and the area’s first permanent settlement began in 1684. Scotch and English families made their home in the Canterbury area of town, where the first recorded town meeting was held in 1765. “New Cornwall” officially became Cornwall in 1799, and by the 1830s, Main Street was home to country stores, saddle and harness makers’ shops, wagon makers, blacksmiths, tanneries, and saw, cider, and wool processing mills. There were two beaver hat factories and two Quaker Meeting houses.
One of them, built in 1790, is still in use as the Cornwall Friends Meeting House, located on Quaker Avenue just off Route 32. Each fall, its members hold a colorful, lively craft fair and yard sale. Their vegetarian chilli and homemade cookies are legendary.
Nestled in a valley surrounded by the ridges of the Hudson Highlands and the peaks of Storm King Mountain and Breakneck Ridge, Cornwall is uniquely sheltered by these natural landmarks. “You could drive up and down Route 32 and never even know it was there,” says Ken Cashman, editor of the weekly Cornwall Local newspaper.
Just off Route 32, on Quaker Avenue (which becomes Main Street and then Hudson Street) the Canterbury area is still a center of commerce and activity, housing Cornwall-St. Luke’s Hospital, a small shopping plaza with a Key supermarket, the Cornwall Post Office, and several restaurants.
A Focus on Local, Natural Food
Leo’s Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria, in the shopping plaza, was opened in 1981. “My parents brought over their authentic recipes from Italy,” says Gaspare Maniscalchi, who now runs the business with brothers Danny and Frank. “We make our sauces, pizza dough, and meatballs from scratch and hand grate our cheese.”
Across the street from Leo’s, Woody’s All Natural is probably the classiest burger joint in the Hudson Valley, serving local, grass-fed/grain-finished beef; free-range chicken, Pine Island onions, and local hot dogs and ice cream. In warmer weather, Woody’s operates a satellite burger stand at Storm King Art Center.
The Canterbury Brook Inn features European-style cuisine with a Swiss flair and is a popular destination for special occasions. Farther down into the Village, Painter’s Restaurant and Tavern showcases local artists and has a popular Sunday Champagne brunch. Outdoor seating is available at many of the area restaurants in the warmer months.
The River Bank Restaurant and Bar has refurbished much of the building that once housed the Cornwall Bank, which folded in disgrace in July 1903. The embezzlement scandal was, according to the Cornwall Local, “The Greatest Blow to Cornwall in Its History.”
Having retained many of the bank’s original features, such as the boardroom entrance and floor-to-ceiling safe, the charming restaurant is owned by local chef Lucie Provencher, who was chef-owner of the North Plank Tavern in Newburgh for 18 years. The restaurant offers fresh, seasonal food with Asian and Italian accents.
Boosting Business on Main Street
In 1959, Town Supervisor Kevin Quigley’s father set up his tailor shop in Cornwall, moving his family across the river when Quigley was six. The young Quigley was soon to learn that Dad’s business afforded him the opportunity of knowing pretty much everything that went on in town. “If we raced our cars around town a little too fast, my Dad would wake me up—and tell me the details,” remembers Quigley with a chuckle.
While Quigley, owner of Quigley Brothers Funeral Home in town, would not want to change Cornwall’s small-town ambience, he and others would like to see more business on Main Street.
To this end, the Town and the Greater Cornwall Chamber of Commerce are seeking grant money to upgrade Main Street. They are considering refurbishing some of the façades, providing more parking, and even relocating the electric lines, though Quigley acknowledges the latter would be a “monumental task.”
Cashman, editor of the Cornwall Local, notes that two new developments may bring an influx of people and thus business to the town. Canterbury Green, an over-55 community on Quaker Avenue at the edge of the business district, has been completed but is not yet occupied. And a 400-unit, over-55 development on Route 9W near Route 218 has been approved, according to Cashman, and is due to start building in 2011.
A Stroll through Town
Visitors strolling down Main Street, which becomes Hudson Street in the village, can enjoy such independent retail establishments as Hazard’s Pharmacy and Bryan’s Bikes, both of which have been offering personal service for decades.
Madison Avenue Fine Children’s Clothing will not only supply the kids with special outfits, but proprietor Karen Kaiser Sharp will also photograph them as well. Gail Parrinello of the Cornwall Yarn Shop enjoys organizing early morning “breakfast tours” of local eateries, where participants can knit and chat. River Light Park, a 38-acre complex with grassy slopes, a pond, Little League fields, government buildings, and the Cornwall Public Library, lies at the boundary between the town and village. Just past it is 2 Alices Coffee House, which offers free WiFi, music on weekends, fair-trade coffee, and homemade soups.
Nature at Your Doorstep
“Cornwall is still small-town Americana,” says David Clearwater, noting the popularity of the July 4th parade and fireworks celebration held at the park. “It’s a very unique community, which includes thousands of acres of preserved park and forest land, such as Black Rock Forest, the Schunnemunk Mountains, and Storm King Art Center.” This land offers visitors to Cornwall recreational opportunities beyond the pleasures of a downtown stroll. These include family jaunts through nature trails at the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum, serious hiking and hunting in Black Rock Forest, and a visit to Storm King Art Center, the world-class sculpture park sited on 500 acres just east of the Thruway.
A Proud History of Fine Schools
These nature-themed attractions enrich the lives of Cornwall’s residents as well as tourists. Quigley fondly recalls school visits to the nature museum as a child and to Storm King Art Center as a teenager. They were part of the well-rounded education that Cornwall residents are justifiably proud of providing their children. The Cornwall Central School District has three elementary schools and one middle school right in town.
Many lament that the new high school, which was first occupied just five years ago, was built on the outskirts of town, where it is less of a social hub. Still, set against the backdrop of the Hudson Highlands, it is a light, airy jewel, with glass walls in the library and cafeteria and a glass-enclosed walkway. Other educational institutions in town include the private St. Thomas of Canterbury School, the Storm King School, and the New York Military Academy, which opened in 1889, burned to the ground in 1910, and was rebuilt and reopened in 1911.
A Place to Realize Dreams
The artist Winslow Homer spent a summer at Houghton Farm in Mountainville in 1870, where he produced watercolors of farm life. A teenager named Armand Assante was a popular local rock musician before becoming a Hollywood actor. And Gen. David Petraeus, commander, US Central Command, graduated from Cornwall Central High School in 1970, then from the United States Military Academy at West Point, five miles to the south.
The town also attracts more modest dreamers. Camera technicians previously living in Brooklyn, 2 Alices owners Mikey Jackson and his wife, Aurelia Winborn, moved here in 2007 looking for a better balance between work and family life. They bought the coffee shop a year later. They will be happy if their son, Atticus, now five, grows up to be as polite as the kids who come into their shop. “We know a lot of the kids by name. They’re the nicest group of teenagers you’d expect to find anywhere in America,” says Aurelia, who is originally from Dallas.
This June, as some of these teens graduate, they, and the entire town, will have a special reason to be proud. The high school’s most prominent alumni, David Petraeus, will be returning to deliver the keynote address.
RESOURCES
2 Alices Coffee Lounge www.2alicescoffee.com
Black Rock Forest www.blackrockforest.org
Blooming Hill Farm www.bloominghillfarm.com
Bryan’s Bikes 845-534-5230
Canterbury Brook Inn www.thecanterburybrookinn.com
Cornwall Central School District www.cornwallschools.com
Cornwall Chamber of Commerce www.cornwallchamber.org
Cornwall Food Coop www.cornwallfoodcoop.com
The Cornwall Local www.thecornwalllocal.com
Cornwall Public Library www.cornwallpubliclibrary.org
Cornwall Yarn Shop www.cornwallyarnshop.com
Hazard’s Pharmacy (845) 534-4345
Hudson Highlands Nature Museum www.hhnaturemuseum.org
The Shops at Jones Farm www.jonesfarminc.com
Leo’s Pizzeria www.leospizzeria.com
Madison Avenue Boutique www.madisonaveboutique.com
New York Military Academy www.nyma.org
Painter’s Restaurant www.painters-restaurant.com
The Riverbank www.theriverbank.biz
Storm King Art Center www.stormking.org
Storm King School www.sks.org
St. Thomas of Canterbury Parish School www.stthomasofcanterburyparish.com
Town of Cornwall www.cornwallny.com
Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson www.cornwall-on-hudson.org
Woody’s All Natural Burgers & Fries www.woodysallnatural.com
This article appears in April 2010.
