But this particular swath of glorious countryside has long been at the north end of the Harlem Valley rail line, allowing a cross-pollination with Manhattan and points worldwide that’s fertilized these bucolic view-sheds with a wildflower mix of intense creativity. And today, that rail line—turned rail trail—has become connective tissue for the downtowns of Amenia and Millerton, two world-class communities quietly bursting at the seams with endeavors, innovations, and optimism.
“My husband and I moved to Millerton 30 years ago because it had a bookstore,” says Lisa Wright, a manager at Oblong Books, the warmly and fiercely independent bookstore that’s been a Main Street fixture for 35 years. “A bookstore means something—that there are curious, thinking people around. This place, the movie theater, Irving Farm [coffee house]; over the years we’ve watched it go from being an agricultural town to an area with a lot more second-home owners. It’s been fascinating to watch the changes, even the ones that seem negative at first—dairy farms go under, but truck farms and horse farms come in. We get a huge influx of people moving in after 9/11—and the arts and business communities explode with their distinctive innovations. Millerton has become a much more interesting downtown to walk around.”
“We have an enviable Main Street,” says Millerton Business Association founding member Marta Reynolds. “It’s really evolved. About seven years ago, a bunch of people came along and saw the potential in a bunch of dusty, unused buildings, and said ‘Let’s do the work here.’ It turned into fabulous shops, and the world started coming. I can’t believe I was lucky enough to happen to move here. Art Frommer [publisher of Budget Travel] called us one of the 10 coolest small towns in America—we revel in that and earn it every day.”
“Our business district has gone from a sweet little fading town to an up- and-coming, thriving, place and Marta’s responsible for a whole lot of that,” says Jenny Hansell, director of the Northeast Community Center (NECC) in Millerton. “She bought that inn [Simmons Way] a few years ago, and ever since, she’s been out walking around with her dog, talking to people, putting things together, solving problems.”
The NECC began as the North East Community Council in the late’80s, beginning with a program for at-risk teens and a Care Car that got seniors safely to their medical appointments, and has expanded to coordinating a wide range of community programs and services. Tentacles of collaboration extend every which way—Gilmor Glass Works, Reynolds tells me, sponsors teens from the NECC as glass-blowing interns. The arts community has a variety of festivities planned—including one to coincide with the Bike New York Harlem Valley Rail Ride on July 25. “That’s how I first got involved,” recalls Reynolds. “I was helping plan the Ride and somebody asked me if I could find a couple of firemen who could cook. I found more than that—I found a world of camaraderie.”
Along with Oblong Books, downtown Millerton boasts its own indie cinema, The Movie House, offering fare ranging from the highbrow and subtitled to Adam Sandler and a red-carpet party for the latest offering in the Twilight series. A thriving farm market bursts with local produce every weekend. Irving Farm Coffee Roasters, an outgrowth of a Manhattan coffee shop, roasts its carefully selected beans here in a vintage carriage house and serves the results to a grateful local populace; Millerton has been a good place for Irving Farms, and plans for a new green roasting facility are in the works.
Amenia, a scant and pretty 15 minutes down the road (should one opt for car rather than rail trail), has its own nascent farmers’ market—and its own wealth of destinations for all tastes. Its name translates from the Latin as “pleasant to the eye.”
“I live right in between—I get my mail in Amenia and I vote in Millerton,” says official town artist Elizabeth Tilly Strauss, a 24-year resident of the farm her grandfather bought many decades earlier. “They’re both exciting places for me right now. There are a lot of creatives drawn by the beauty and isolation, and the economic meltdown is bringing us out of the woodwork. The creativity is on every level. The new diner is serving all local ingredients, and they’re being really careful to find a niche that won’t take away from existing places. And we have a huge group of artists, people who had never met coming out and working and talking together. We throw up random shows in vacant real estate. We help each other.
“I’m excited by a lot that’s going on—you should see the Wassaic Project. It’s these three amazing women who’ve taken over the old Maxon Mill and they’re fixing up this ornate old schoolhouse for a place for artists’ residencies. We have 11 artists coming from Berlin in August—there’s just so much going on. People from their twenties to their sixties, seventies—just pursuing their dreams, right out there in the open.”
Indeed, there would seem to be some ingredient in the air around here that smoothes the path from dream to reality. It was in Amenia that Lewis Mumford lived and wrote and raised his family, developing seminal ideas about the relationships between people and communities. “Mumford offered a hopeful vision of an advanced technological society in which wholeness, balance, and respect for multiple sources of creativity were central to building sociotechnical patterns,” wrote his friend Langdorn Winner in a meditation on the resale of the Mumford family home, which Mumford and his wife called “the Great Good Place.”
In Amenia, acclaimed chef Serge Madikian has created Serevan, a restaurant that has swept the gamut of foodie awards and won lyrical raves when its opening. Madikian, a student of history and philosophy as well as gastronomic excellence, would seem to have created a cuisine and an ambiance that are nothing short of transformational, working timeless Mediterranean and Middle Eastern magic on fresh local foodstuffs.
It was in Amenia that a group of citizens formed Imagine Amenia, speaking up for open government and open space—and their vision has clearly informed the dialogue that has shaped the process of change in the region. A major new development, Silo Ridge, has built solid community support for their “environmentally friendly residential community and resort,” to include 297 condominiums, 41 single-family homes, and a resort condominium-hotel with a total of 300 units, a conference center, spa and wellness center, among other amenities. The project will preserve 80 percent open space and provide a wastewater treatment plant, a projected 2,000 construction jobs, and 1,200 hospitality-related positions when it’s up and running.
The harmonious convergence of beauty, transit, and creativity that seems to rule this corner of the world has drawn thriving, large-scale spiritual centers to each of the two towns. Amenia is home to the World Peace Prayer Society; down the road in Millerton, Buddhafield will be hosting Lama Shyalpa Rinpoche for a two-day teaching July 24 and 25. Originating in the Sutras, the concept of a Buddhafield is “an environment in which all conditions are perfectly conducive to spiritual practice and in which to gain Enlightenment.”
Perhaps all that enlightenment is contagious; perhaps the mischievous spirit of Lewis Mumford is casting a protective shadow. But there does seem to be a common positive thread in the way folks in this area conduct their affairs. “Our residents help make it a wonderful place to live,” says Amenia Supervisor Wayne Euvrard.
“We have a great community spirit, many volunteers and we always rise to the occasion if someone needs assistance. I notice that many neighboring communities have trouble filling volunteer positions—planning board, zoning board, et cetera. Here in Amenia we always have to interview, because so many citizens come forward.” Three local hair salons are donating hair to help soak up the Gulf oil spill. Jack’s Auto Repair, a staple of Route 22, takes pride in customer education and community involvement. Proprietor Jack Gregory was selected NAPA/ASE Technician of the Year in 2009, from a field of 400,000.
“It’s not that we’re immune to controversy—there are strong, passionate, lively debates,” reflects Hansell. “But there’s a strong scaffolding of organizations all wanting to make Millerton the best place it can be, and the arguments are about means, not ends. I’ve been here 10 years, and I came from Brooklyn. It might sound odd, but this community reminds me of Brooklyn in one way—the level of public engagement. Whether you’re talking about the Lions Club or the American Legion, the library, the PTO, the arts community—there are an amazing number of avenues to come together. It contradicts the stereotype of the modern world—the community’s so vibrant, it’s amazing.”
RESOURCES
Buddhafield www.shyalparinpoche.org
Gilmor Glass Works www.gilmorglass.com
Harlem Valley Rail Trail www.hvrt.org
Imagine Amenia www.imagineamenia.org
Irving Farm Coffee House www.irvingfarm.com
The Movie House www.themoviehouse.net
Northeast Community Center www.neccmillerton.org
Oblong Books www.oblongbooks.com
Simmon’s Way www.simmonsway.com
Town of Amenia www.ameniany.gov
Village of Millerton www.villageofmillerton.com
The Wassaic Project www.wassaicproject.com
World Peace Prayer Society www.worldpeace.org
This article appears in July 2010.
