Happening This Weekend - 11/30/2018
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Fundraiser For Beacon High School's "The Beacon Players"
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We love supporting The Beacon Players - Beacon High School Drama and Theater Arts organization - at A Little Beacon Blog. This group goes above and beyond when putting a production together for the community to enjoy. Fans of The Beacon Players will know that tickets to their shows are only $5 and would like to keep it this way. That’s why the group is asking all of us to support and check out their new Snap!Raise Fundraising page.
The Beacon Players are raising money for costumes, art supplies, set building materials, and advertising. Your support will help them offer a higher quality experience for all participants and is vital to the success of the program. With a goal of $3,000, they are almost halfway there as of this write-up.
The next production presented by The Beacon Players will be A Chorus Line, one of the longest-running shows on Broadway, the weekend of December 7-9, 2018. You can purchase your tickets here.
Beacon Remains Under 2% Tax Cap For 6th Year In A Row
/If you got a refund from your property tax escrow account for being overestimated, this could be why (although we’re not property tax experts, but a refund did come our way this month). Mayor Randy Casale presented Beacon’s 2019 Budget in October, and stated: “In this year’s budget our homestead tax rate shows a decrease of 1.6518% and the non-homestead rate dropped 1.8073%.”
Before presenting the complex layers of a city’s budget, the Mayor also pointed out: “This is the fifth year in a row that we have received a ‘no designation’ classification from the NYS Comptroller’s Office with a score of 5. We have an Aa2 Moody’s bond rating. This shows our tax dollars are being managed thoughtfully and responsibly. This is the sixth straight year we were able to stay under the 2% tax cap while continuing to provide the services that keep our city safe, invest in our infrastructure and improve the quality of life for our citizens.”
Anthony Ruggiero, the City Administrator, reminded readers of the 2019 Budget Presentation of the history of the tax cap: “The tax cap law established a limit on growth of the annual property taxes levied to 2% or the rate of inflation, whichever is less. As you may recall, last year the tax cap was actually 1.84%, however this year it is 2%.”
Select Increases Projected For Certain Line-Items In The 2019 Budget
Water and sewer rates will show increases: 5% for water and 10% for sewer. Said the Mayor in the 2019 Budget Presentation: “These increases will allow us to continue to make upgrades to both facilities and our aging infrastructure.“
Infrastructure upgrades have been going on in Beacon on several neighborhood streets since the summer. There was a sewer collapse on Main Street at Tioronda, which closed the street to cars for several days, and negatively impacted neighboring businesses, like Raven Rose who experienced sewage backup into the shop.
Says Emily Burke, owner of the kitchen store Utensil, which until very recently was located on the eastern end of town (she has since moved to the west end of town, with an expanded shop): “The ongoing construction certainly had an impact on all the east end businesses.”
Also significant is the retiring of Beacon’s Building Inspector, Timothy Dexter. He served the city for 36 years in several roles, including Firefighter, Building Inspector, Fire Lieutenant, Acting City Administrator, “and mentor to many,” Anthony stated in the budget presentation letter.
The position of the Building Inspector will remain, but move to the Building Department’s budget, and away from the Fire Department’s budget, where it was previously. Building Department staff will remain the same, and the number of firefighters (13) and fire chief (1) will remain the same.
There are other highlights of what budget line-items are increasing or decreasing, which you can see here in the budget itself.
Recycling Market Crash Significantly Impacts Beacon’s Budget
The City Administrator stated that Beacon will keep weekly recycling, but at a loss to what was budgeted previously. “This is significantly impacted by the collapse of the recycling industry. The City went from receiving a revenue of $15 a ton to an expenditure of $61 a ton. This, combined with the increases in garbage contracts, amounted to $99,698 increase in the general fund expense budget.“
If you need to see things visually, as a line-item, this could look like +$15/ton as income to Beacon, and now looks like -$61 as an expense. The collapse of the recycling market was predicted for years by business leaders in the recycling industry, and was triggered by the Chinese decision in January 2018 to buy almost none of the recycled paper pulp coming from the United States. (A reminder: When putting goods out for city recycling, all recyclable paper and plastic must be dry and clean. Rinsed and not soggy. Otherwise, if the plastic is coated in food or dirty, or the paper soggy, it does not get recycled.) A Little Beacon Blog hasn’t gotten an official quote on where non-purchased recycling goes if it’s rejected and not purchased by China.
Beacon Homestead & Non-Homestead Assessed Value Increased
As explained by the City Administrator in the budget presentation: “This year the homestead assessed value increased by 3.47% or $30,859,063 million. The non-homestead assessed value has also increased over last year by 9.65%, or $23,815,921. This year represents the fifth year since 2009 that the overall assessed values increased, and did so by $54,674,984. Homestead values remain more than $102 million less than it was in 2009. The non-homestead assessed value has fluctuated through the years, and while it increased approximately $23,815,921 this year, it is only the second year in a row that it has been more than in 2009.”
Public Input Scheduled For November 19, 2018
CORRECTION: This section originally stated December 3, 2018 as the Public Hearing. According to the Mayor’s letter in the Budget Presentation, that was the date set. However, the Public Hearing for the 2019 Budget was announced and scheduled for Monday, November 19, 2018.
Department heads have been meeting in workshops throughout the fall. Workshops are open to the public to watch, but not participate in. A Little Beacon Blog republishes workshops here to help increase accessibility to these videos and agendas of the meetings. The opportunity for the public to come out and contribute their opinion on the 2019 Budget was Monday, November 19, 2018 at 7 pm at City Hall. This is the white building near the train station that also houses the police station and courthouse.
Dutchess County Taxes Likely To Decrease Again
/The proposed Dutchess County 2019 budget was released, as first reported by the Beacon Free Press in their October 31, 2018, issue. It consists of a reduction of the county property tax levy for a fifth consecutive year, and cuts the property tax rate for homeowners and businesses for the fourth straight year, while maintaining county services and programs, according to the 2019 Dutchess County Budget Proposal news release. New initiatives have been introduced, addressing addiction and mental health, services for youth in foster care, as well as continued funding for ThinkDIFFERENTLY events and programs, senior services, infrastructure improvements, and shared services.
According to the news release: “The 2019 property tax levy (amount collected countywide from property taxes) proposed in the Executive Budget is $106,350,769, down nearly $28,000 from 2018, representing the fifth consecutive property tax levy decrease. If the budget proposal is approved by the County Legislature, property taxpayers will see a 2.6% reduction in the tax rate on their property tax bill, for the fourth straight year, with the rate decreasing from $3.54 to $3.45 per $1,000 of true value assessments. Total 2019 appropriations equal $502,154,287, a 2.96% increase over 2018.”
Dutchess County has a AA+ credit rating by Standard & Poor’s. “Dutchess ranks in the top tier of financially well-managed county governments, with only one county statewide having a higher S&P bond rating,” according to the news release, which gives further breakdown.
County Executive Marc Molinaro said, “A reflection of several years of conservative spending practices, this 2019 Executive Budget again seeks to serve our residents’ best interests, providing continued tax relief while maintaining the level of high-quality services on which our neighbors rely.”
Economic Development Coming Largely From Arts and Tourism Investment
“Dutchess County’s local economy has been strengthened by a multitude of economic development and tourism efforts,” according to the news release. Poughkeepsie and Beacon send their sales tax directly to Dutchess County in a 10-year agreement which began in 2014. Beacon’s agreement will be up for renewal in 2024. The agreement has helped improve public transportation in Beacon, most recently by making it free to ride the G Loop Bus, which picks up people from the Beacon Train Station and takes them almost anywhere they want to go in downtown Beacon. The bus route has been rebranded as the Beacon Free Loop in a partnership with the City of Beacon and BeaconArts. The Beacon Free Loop is free to riders, and runs Monday to Saturday from 6 pm to 9 pm.
Financial situations credited with helping Dutchess County, as cited in the news release, include:
12 consecutive months of private-sector job growth
Lowest unemployment rate in the region
Projects totaling $2.9 billion currently in design
Projects totaling $3.9 billion currently under construction
More than 4.75 million annual visitors to Dutchess County
Eighth consecutive year of tourism spending growth, now totaling over $601 million
$19 million in annual direct spending is attributable to the arts
Funding For Tourism and The Arts Continues
The budget states the following continued investments into tourism and the arts:
Continued funding of just over $450,000 for the Th!nk Dutchess Alliance for Business.
Over $1.635 million investment in Dutchess Tourism, Inc. for tourism and arts promotion, an 8% increase. (Dutchess County Industrial Development Agency [DCIDA] funding: $1.062 million; county funding: $574,000 for total of $1,635,660 tourism funding investment)
Increased funding for Arts Mid-Hudson, totaling over $300,000, through the DCIDA, that will support 19 arts organizations including the iconic Bardavon 1869 Opera House in Poughkeepsie.
Continued $15,000 funding, through the DCIDA, for the Hudson Valley Film Commission, which reported over $8.5 million in direct regional film spending for 2016, more than 50% of which was spent in Dutchess County.
More Investments Into Opioid Addiction, Mental Health, Youth In Foster Care Services
Dutchess County continues their focus on addressing the opioid crisis, and will use a federal Department of Justice grant to give more tools to understand and track the opioid crisis in Dutchess County. Additionally, the 2019 budget proposes to make two critical positions permanent – an Opioid Educator and a Recovery Coach. The Recovery Coach has experienced recovery themselves, and currently has a nearly 80% success rate of helping addicts reach the next stage of recovery, according to the news release. Dutchess County continues to invest in foster care programs “to improve well-being outcomes for children in foster care,” according to the news release.
Look For Access To These Services
According to the news release, money has been allocated for the following:
Money for Shared Services: Commitment to shared services and consolidation continues in 2019 with $1 million budgeted for the Municipal Innovation Grant program.
Money for Community Agencies: The Agency Partner Grant (APG) program will have $1 million allocated for community agencies to address specific needs in the community through a competitive application process, funding 20 agencies expected to serve 25,000 people.
Infrastructure: $25 million in infrastructure investment, including replacement or repair of 13 bridges, 20 miles of paving and 9,000 miles of snow plowing.
Domestic Violence Prevention: Over $3 million for domestic violence and sexual assault prevention and response.
Seniors’ Activities: Office for the Aging will transition to its new facility in Poughkeepsie. The new space will serve as the City of Poughkeepsie Senior Friendship Center, and allow for expanded senior activities and programs, as well as a new kitchen that will increase efficiency of the home-delivered meal program that serves nearly 2,000 seniors.
Veterans Services: Expansion of the “Wheels to Work” program will include additional vehicles for veterans to help ensure access to health care, employment and education services.
Public School Resource Officer: Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office School Resource Officer program has been expanded to include seven school districts, with 10 officers and one supervisor.
Dutchess Community College: Continued support of Dutchess Community College, with an additional $1.75 million in funding support in 2019.
Town Hall Meetings Scheduled To Discuss Budget
The following Town Hall meetings are/were scheduled to discuss the county budget:
Pawling Village Hall, 9 Memorial Ave., Pawling, on Monday, November 19, at 1 pm
Rhinebeck Starr Library, 68 West Market St., Rhinebeck, on Tuesday, November 20 at 6 pm
Stanford Town Hall, 26 Route 82, Stanfordville, on Monday, November 26 at 6 pm
Town of Poughkeepsie Senior Center, 14 Abes Way, Poughkeepsie, on Wednesday, December 5 at 6 pm
Giving Tuesday Guide: A Little Sampling for 2018
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Photo Credit: Collage of screenshots of websites of the organizations below.
For this year’s Giving Tuesday Guide, we wanted to shine the light on groups we don’t talk about often enough, who serve people in Beacon or the Hudson Valley at large. If you have ideas of who we should highlight next year, submit them in the comments below. If you’re reading this article after Giving Tuesday, you can of course donate any day of the year!
EDITORIAL NOTE: The descriptions of the Missions and What They Do have been taken from each organization’s own website (with the exception of ARF), to best describe how they serve:
The Ramps at Memorial Park aka A Beacon Skatepark
Photo Credit: Facebook page of The Ramps at Memorial Park.
MISSION: After years without a place to ride in Beacon, a small group of dedicated volunteers have partnered with the City of Beacon Parks and Recreation department to bring a skatepark back to Beacon. They are fundraising to turn the dream into a reality and build the park together with the community.
HOW THEY DO IT: With visions, builders, grit, and a lot of lumber. You can see in-progress pictures here at their Instagram.
Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF)
Photo Credit: Screenshot from ARF’s website.
WHAT THEY DO: Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF) provides shelter and caregiving to kitties, puppies, and adult cats and dogs. ARF tries to match the right animal with the right forever homes. You can see the dogs here, and the cats here.
HOW THEY DO IT: In addition to their daily caregiving to animals in their shelter, ARF partners with Pilots n Paws to be a shelter to animals who need it. Pilots n Paws is an organization that was founded by two pilots who were passionate about rescuing shelter animals in need. Pilots and plane owners volunteer their time, planes, and gas to transport animals from point A to point B. Shelters/rescues/fosters who want to save animals that would otherwise be euthanized and that not do well on a ground transport, and/or would otherwise have to travel long distances, will post a transport request with ARF.
Photo Credit: Screenshot from The Highlands Current website.
WHAT THEY DO: The Highlands Current is a local newspaper that has included Beacon in its regular coverage. They send a reporter, Jeff Simms, to most City Council meetings, as well as other city board meetings.
MISSION: The Highlands Current’s mission is to be a fair and trusted source of information for their Hudson Highlands communities, and to provide a lively forum for wide-ranging views.
HOW THEY DO IT: Through both their website, HighlandsCurrent.org, and their print edition, The Highlands Current, they seek to reflect the rich variety of interests, concerns and experiences of their readers and to communicate their stories in the most up-to-date manner possible. They will report without bias or favor for any particular agenda or partisan political point of view.
P.S.: I, Katie, have a monthly column here!
SHRED Foundation
Photo Credit: Screenshot from the SHRED Foundation website.
WHAT THEY DO: SHRED focuses on instilling confidence among youth by using snowboarding to increase kids’ belief that they can and will succeed at whatever it is they put their mind to.
MISSION: Currently based in the Hudson Valley and Catskill regions of New York, SHRED Foundation works to introduce the youth in local rural and urban areas to snowboarding, and to open their eyes to the opportunities and growth it provides. By harnessing the unifying power of snow/skate culture, SHRED works to inspire youth to follow an alternative path and to engage their drive and creativity to follow it. The majority of the kids that participate in the winter program have never stepped foot on a board. By teaching them something as simple as turning a piece of wood down a hill covered in snow, they walk away with so much more than a newfound passion for snowboarding.
HOW THEY DO IT: SHRED partners with local stakeholders (organizations, schools, local recreation departments, snow/skate companies, reps, shops, mountains, and brands) and values the importance of teaching its youth the core aspects of the culture, which include individuality, creativity, progression, entrepreneurial drive and community.
Photo Credit: Screenshot from The Art Effect website.
MISSION: The Art Effect is committed to advancing young people’s journey from learning to leadership by engaging them in transformative practices in the arts and media that build future careers and foster personal development.
WHAT THEY DO: The Art Effect was born on January 1, 2018, as a result of the merger of Spark Media Project and Mill Street Loft, two impactful arts nonprofits based in Poughkeepsie, NY. With this merger, The Art Effect became a single, powerful arts education and youth development agency serving youth across the Hudson Valley.
Spark Media Project was founded in 1994 (originally named Children’s Media Project) by Maria Marewski. Spark Media Project, a media art, technology, and education organization, served young people, artists, schools and organizations in the Hudson Valley, with a focus on using media as a tool for creative expression, critical thinking, and skills development.
Mill Street Loft was founded in 1984 by Carole Wolf. Mill Street Loft delivered arts-based programming that has transformed the lives of thousands of residents and their families. Through visual arts courses, camps, and outreach programs, Mill Street Loft was committed to supporting personal growth, fostering self-expression, and enhancing human services through the arts in order to rebuild a shared sense of community.
HOW THEY DO IT: The Art Effect hosts events, classes, portfolio development, festivals, and an apprenticeship program
Best Reasons To Buy A Home In The Hudson Valley In The Fall (Sponsored)
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This article was originally written by Vincent Aurigemma, VP of Residential Lending for Rhinebeck Bank, and published on Rhinebeck Bank’s blog. We have republished it here at A Little Beacon Blog as part of A Little Beacon Blog’s Sponsor Partnership with Rhinebeck Bank, where we work to produce original content, or highlight tips they have already provided. We thank all of our sponsors for their support, and you for supporting businesses who support us.
By: Vincent Aurigemma, VP of Residential Lending for Rhinebeck Bank
Cooler weather, beautiful changing leaves, and hiking season at its peak makes fall a perfect time to be in the Hudson Valley. This is also one of the best times to purchase a new home! Rhinebeck Bank has the best reasons to buy your home this season.
Motivated Sellers
Just as purchasing a home is an extensive process, selling one can be as well. Most sellers do not want to enter the holiday season with interruptions and the selling process on their mind. It is not uncommon for homeowners that have not sold by the fall to wait until the following spring. With this being said, sellers are often worn out and may be more willing to negotiate and expedite the closing and move-in process.
Leftover Inventory
With sellers tending to put homes on the market during peak season, homes are listed at peak rates, which could mean a series of price reductions leading up to the fall. This allows buyers to possibly be in a position to find homes that are listed much lower than they were originally, and sometimes lower than their market value.
Year-End Tax Credits*
Even if a home owner closes on the last day of the year, they may be able to apply the property taxes paid on a home purchase to offset income for the year. This could have a positive effect on homeowners come tax season of the following year.
Less Competition
Competition for homes typically drops in the fall, as many individuals consider the spring and summer months as prime season for real estate purchases. The repositioned inventory, which may not have sold in the peak months, allows for more time to shop around. This creates less likelihood for individuals to enter a bidding war. Not to mention, with the summer being a real estate agent’s busiest time with many clients, the fall allows for more specialized attention.
Holiday Bargains on Home Improvements
Buying a new house is an exciting time in one’s life, and many people are eager to jump into personalizing, really making the new place their own home. With the holidays following the fall season, it is a great time to take advantage of deals from home improvement retailers on a variety of homeowner needs, including appliances, tools, and even home décor.
*Please consult your tax advisor regarding your property tax credit eligibility.
Rhinebeck Bank. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender.
Rhinebeck Bank is a proud sponsor of A Little Beacon Blog, and this article was created with them as part of our Sponsor Spotlight program. It is with the support of businesses like theirs that A Little Beacon Blog can bring you coverage of news, local happenings and events. Thank you for supporting businesses who support us! If you would like to become a Sponsor or Community Partner, please click here for more information.
Happening This Weekend 11/23/2018 : Happy Black Friday!
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Kaleidoscope Pop-Up at Zora Dora's
Happy Thanksgiving 2018
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Happy Thanksgiving.
Enjoy the quiet, the laughter, the unplugged, the family, the friends, the neighbors.
Last year’s blog post made a suggestion to tell someone unexpected why you are thankful for them. Someone not in your every day life. It’s a neat assignment, if you were to try to do it.
This year, there is a lot to be grateful for, but I’ll say that I’m grateful for the ability to step outside my house and onto the sidewalk or into any shop, where I’m bound to run into a friend who I haven’t seen in real life for a while. Usually it changes the day for the better, or helps reshape how I was thinking about something, and I’m grateful for those moments.
What or who are you thankful for?
PS: The photo in this blog post was taken inside of the shop Raven Rose on Main Street on the east end of town near the mountain. The owner, Courtney, always has the prettiest windows and unusual flower selections for a wild bouquet, including several tall dried flowers. I’m thankful for those snippets of beauty.
New Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony At Visitors Center - November 24, 2018
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A group of people have organized a new ceremony scheduled for Saturday, November 24, 2018, from 3 to 5 pm, to light up this well-known evergreen next to the Visitors Center at Polhill Park. The rain date is set for Saturday, December 1.
Tree Ceremony To Add To Merriment
Says Rosemary Merhige, one of the organizers of this lighting: “We started out with a group of Beacon residents and formed a committee. We have support of the Elks, City of Beacon, Boy and Girl Scouts, Beacon Recreation Department, Yanarella Dance Studio and others.”
There will be ornament making, refreshments, and entertainment. Look for Santa, carolers, tiny dancers, and more.
The Bicycle Tree Lighting from BeaconArts and the City of Beacon will be on December’s Second Saturday as it always is - this year it’s December 8. That is also the seventh night of Hanukkah, and BeaconArts will be lighting the menorah that night as well. The lighting of the menorah begins on the first night of Hanukkah: Sunday, December 2. Details about it are here.
Says Kelly Ellenwood, a past president of BeaconArts about the tree: “The tree next door [to the bicycle tree] was never left alone. It was always lit up and decorated, every year. Its juxtaposition to the Visitors Center makes it hard to see. A new tree somewhere where folks can gather ‘round will need to be planted (or sited) in the coming years.”
It is the opinion of this writer that a new tree on the other side of town - near the mountain - would help spread the abundant merriment down the full length of Main Street. It could serve as a new anchor to help draw people toward the east end of Beacon, and the shops, art galleries and salons that reside there. Oftentimes, people turn around after the Howland Cultural Center, where there is the big turn in the road. If you follow Main Street around the bend, you’ll discover so many more art galleries and shops, like Maria Lago Studio 502, bau Gallery, Russell Cusick Gallery, Kaight, Style Storehouse, and others. See A Little Beacon Blog’s Art Gallery Guide for a list of galleries.
The Holiday Wreaths Are UP!
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It’s a most exciting time of the year, when we see the City of Beacon trucks loaded with holiday wreaths intended for the streetlamps slowly roll down Main Street, hanging up the festive greenery and bows.
Cheers to you this holiday season, on the eve of Thanksgiving. May you stay merry and bright.
PS: If you are decorating your house this season, please send your pics to us! We want to feature your houselights. Email editorial@alittlebeaconblog.com for consideration. Including your address is optional. We’d love to see your work, so even if you set up one version, and then add to it later, get on our radar now - you can always send another picture when your masterpiece is complete!
Shopping Guide Shuffle: 3 New Shops in Beacon! LaMere, Underground Beacon, and Artifact
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Updates have been made to A Little Beacon Blog’s Shopping Guide! Some of these shops moved in several months ago, and some a few weeks ago. Take a look at these fresh collections and experiences waiting to delight you inside:
La Mere Clothing and Goods
436 Main Street, Beacon NY
This shop moved in when Matteawan Gallery moved out. We had a mourning period for the art gallery for a bit, and are embracing this new space! April has been quickly setting up and sharing on the shop’s Instagram page all of the styles catching her eye. Inside the shop, you’ll find fashion, from cheetah print to bobble sweaters (what is a bobble sweater? you’ll want one, check it out). LaMere Clothing and Goods has brought more fashion options to the ladies in Beacon. Located in the cute storefront with stairs in front in a small building on your way to the east end of town. Welcome!
Photo Credit: Screenshot of @lamereclothingandgoods
The Underground Beacon
462 Main Street, Beacon, NY
This destination for comics moved in when Lauren and Riley moved out of its original space, as the established Beacon boutique moved to the other (western) end of Main Street. The Underground Beacon is on fire with what they offer, which includes board games, a gameroom to play Magic and other real person-to-person games, a video game console on the wall, and most recently, skateboards. As you can see from this screenshot of their Instagram, they sell unusual games too, like this Golden Girls-themed Checkers and Bingo set. Obviously this is on your holiday gift list!
Photo Credit: Screenshot of @thebeaconunderground
Artifact Beacon
17 East Main Street, Beacon, NY
Not totally new to Beacon anymore, but still under a year old, is Artifact Beacon, the shop with uncommonly beautiful jewelry, art, home décor and more. They are in the space formerly occupied by Gwenno James’, who used to sell the silk scarves that she designed in the building. Artifact continues with the art by bringing you even more of it. If you get some familiar vibes while you’re shopping, it’s because you may have shopped Artifact’s selection before, when they first popped up in A Little Beacon’s Space in the Made and Given Pop-Up Shop! They had so much fun setting up and running a shop, that they put roots down on the far east end of town. Find Artifact Beacon on your way to Dogwood. If you’re staying at the Roundhouse, this is an easy shopping destination to pick up some amazing goods.
Pro tip: If you’ve been curious after seeing the Instagram page of Beacon Mercantile, who makes small-batch, natural, cruelty-free candles and apothecary goods including colored lip balms, then you will be happy to find this line carried in Artifact Beacon!
Photo Credit: Screenshot from @artifactbeacon
Photo Credit: Screenshot from @beaconmercantile
Where Is This House? 119 Howland Avenue Is Near Bob's Corner Store and Mount Beacon
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119 Howland Avenue, currently for sale from JonCar Realty, as listed in A Little Beacon Blog’s Real Estate Guide.
Photo Credit: JonCar Realty
When you look at home listings on websites, you see the address, but you don’t always know exactly where it is. A property might be right next to somewhere you have been to or driven by countless times - even on a daily basis!
Such is the case with 119 Howland Avenue, a house that is for sale from JonCar Realty and listed in A Little Beacon Blog’s Real Estate Guide. So where is this house? We jumped into the car to drive there to find out. But not before we dug down to find out how old it was! And here is what we discovered…
First, you drive down Route 9D toward Mount Beacon. You drive past the Elks Lodge, towards Scenic Hudson’s redesigned and expanded parking lot at the entrance to Mount Beacon.
Drive down Route 9D/Wolcott Avenue towards Mount Beacon to get to Howland Avenue.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin
Right as you pass the older apartment building designed in a Spanish adobe style, and just as you think about ordering a grilled cheese from Bob’s Corner Store, you turn left down… Howland Avenue!
Howland Avenue is a quick turn off of 9D, and is an artery road toward several communities at the base of Mount Beacon.
Howland Avenue intersection with Route 9D/Wolcott Avenue.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin
The house that is for sale, 119 Howland Avenue, will be on your left, across from wide open land which during the fall, presents a stunning view of peak fall foliage.
119 Howland Avenue in the fall.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin
View from across the street of 119 Howland Avenue during the fall foliage.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin
Now that you know where 119 Howland Avenue is, you can check out the inside of the house via all of the pictures we have! See the new open kitchen, the renovated original details of the house, the gorgeous bathrooms (so many bathrooms), the balcony and porches, and the fireplaces. Call JonCar Realty to see it, and chime in back here if you make it yours!
The Land Surveyor With The 1867 Atlas Tattoo of (Pre)Beacon (When Named Fishkill Landing and Matteawan)
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Maps in this photo are from the David Rumsey collection, and the house in the woods is from an old postcard from the Beacon Historical Society’s collection. As of this writing, we have not confirmed where that house is. The tattoo pictured is on the arm of Tom Cerchiara, made by Evan McGuigan at Graceland Tattoo.
Photo Credit: Collage from A Little Beacon Blog
When A Little Beacon Blog’s Real Estate Guide got the listing for 119 Howland Avenue, we were immediately intrigued by the old house with the four fireplaces. Clearly it was built in a different time with its many bedrooms and bathrooms, with room for a large family or live-in nanny. It must have been from the 1800s, but when?
Who better to ask than a land surveyor? Beacon is lucky enough to have several good ones in the area. Tom Cerchiara of TEC Land Surveying is who I thought of first, as my design agency rebranded his logo and website. That rebranding project exposed me to the profession of a land surveyor, where they deeply research the histories of a property to determine boundaries, ownership rights, and much more. So I had a feeling Tom may know the origins of this house.
When I asked him, his immediate response was: “That house is on the 1867 Atlas.”
The 1867 Atlas
Photo Credit: Screenshot of the 1867 Atlas on David Rumsey’s website and part of his collection.
What atlas, I thought? There’s an atlas? Yes. Tom explained that years ago, detailed maps were made of regions, and each map included different properties and information on them. These have been relied upon by surveyors as they research a property and look for clues.
A man named David Rumsey, who has a deep history with technology and archives, has published several of these maps on his website, even winning awards and recognition for this contribution. You can see the 1867 one titled “Fishkill on the Hudson and Matteawan” right here (the area was actually called Fishkill Landing and Matteawan, but the atlas called it “Fishkill on the Hudson”). This is a map of what is known as Beacon now, before it was called Beacon.
Prior to being known as Beacon, the area was officially two names: “Fishkill Landing, near the Hudson River and its busy ports, which incorporated as a village in 1864; and Matteawan, an industrial hub located near the Fishkill Creek, which incorporated in 1886” as explained in this article from Diane Lapis of the Beacon Historical Society that is part of A Little Beacon Blog’s Postcards series.
The Tattoo
“The 1867 Atlas is tattooed on my arm. And that house is represented right here.” Tom pointed to a black marking on his arm.
Wait, what? Tattooed? I knew that Tom had gotten a tattoo last year by Evan McGuigan who made the tattoo at Graceland Tattoo, and I remembered that it was a map of Beacon. But at the time, that’s all it was - a map of Beacon. Now that I’d gone on my own historical property search leading me to the 1867 Atlas of Fishkill and Matteawan, this all became more curious.
The Previous Owner of 119 Howland Avenue From 1867
Back at the computer, Tom zoomed in on the map, and saw that the property was attributed to Frank B. Goodrich, a well-known writer. According to an article at Lehigh University, Frank lost his eyesight, preventing him from earning a living, and retired to a country home (now known as 119 Howland Avenue) in the Hudson Valley.
Excerpted from the Lehigh University article:
Frank Goodrich was born in Hartford, CT, to Mary Boott Goodrich and Samuel Griswold Goodrich, the popular author of the "Peter Parley" tales of geography and adventure. After graduating from Harvard in 1845, Goodrich moved to Paris when his father was chosen as the United States consul. Goodrich’s literary career began there when, under the pseudonym of "Dick Tinto," he wrote letters to the New York Times about Paris and its government (J. Derby 123). These letters, which his obituary describes as “remarkable for their perception of character, correct judgment of events, and sagacity in political prediction,” were collectively published as Tricolored Sketches of Paris. Goodrich’s most well known works include The Court of Napoleon, Man upon the Sea, The Tribute Book, and Women of Beauty and Heroism (The Goodrich Family in America)…
After his eyesight failed him, preventing him from earning a living, Goodrich went abroad for several years before seeking his retirement at a country house on the Hudson. He spent his later years in New York City, retaining a lively interest in politics but living a quiet life due to his eyesight.
Here is a picture of the house and what it looks like now. It is currently for sale, and you can see more pictures here.
Moving To Beacon In The Winter
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It’s a really good time to move to Beacon. I mean, it’s always a good time to move to Beacon, people have done it time and again no matter what the month. But now is good because the market has opened up a bit. Earlier this year, fewer houses were on the market, and now there are quite a few. More and more people are getting involved with city regulations and how taxes work, so there is a revived look at how our taxes are calculated. Like the Assessment Rate or the city’s Sales Tax that currently goes to Dutchess County to be managed (this decision up for renewal in 2024, so look for fresh debate).
Renovations around town keep rolling, either by the new homeowners or by flippers, so pretty much anywhere you look in Beacon, a house is getting a makeover. And then there are the apartments that are going to be finished soon. There are a lot of options (and emotional adjustments, for those of us not expecting to see so many new buildings go up, but that’s a different blog post, and one that I personally have faith will work out as different voices contribute at City Council, Zoning and Planning Board meetings to have their view heard).
When we moved to Beacon from NYC, it was during the time of President Obama when he lifted the tax penalty on draining your IRA for anything but retirement. He made it tax penalty-free to use your IRA to buy a home. We kicked our apartment/house search into high gear so that we could use the tax advantage, and visited a lot of NYC apartments, then tested other train towns, and dug our heels into Beacon.
We visited all sorts of houses in Beacon, mostly with scary basements and no closets. After touring one house that had been on the market for 4 days and had the B-Dry system, which was a $10K investment that made the basement dry, we made our offer. While the sellers considered it, we stumbled hungrily into Poppy’s, which is now MOD, for a much-needed burger to process what was about to happen.
Night Moving
The night we moved - because it was nighttime after the movers packed all of our boxes that day in NYC; otherwise we would have been buried in boxes in our tiny apartment - we drove up to Beacon in the moving truck.
My most happy time was sitting in the front seat of the moving truck, driving past the wide open spaces on 9D that were actually Garrison homes with large, rolling fields for yards. Those blended into Cold Spring, which disappeared into the tunnel of Breakneck Ridge, until we got to the other side of the ridge and the stars emerged in the sky again.
It was just so black. The sky. The air. And open. When we pulled up to our house, we got out of the truck and fumbled for our new keys to the house. The air was cold and crisp. On the sidewalk across the street from our house, on the other side of a chain-link fence, I heard rustling. My dog was still alive then, so I was used to perking my ears up to hear if outside sounds were human or raccoon. Human. I’d later learn it was my neighbor, who happened to be letting out their dog at that hour, and happens to know everything that is going on at all times. (This is why dog-walking is useful!)
Front Porches
As the movers moved in, my dog was investigating our new front yard within our own new-for-us old chain-link fence, as I stood on the front porch. Again the sky was black with stars. The black enveloped me. The artist Stanley Lindwasser just described it perfectly at his art opening - the openness that is density. That’s what he loves about his new home here in Beacon after moving here from Hoboken, N.J.: the density. And that’s what I loved. I never wanted to lose that feeling of being enveloped by the dark on my front porch, seeing the stars, and feeling so lucky that this space would be what grounded us.
The Great Blizzard of 2010
A few days later, The Great Blizzard of 2010 hit, and we lost power for three days. We are not campers in the wilderness. In our adulting lives, we grew up in NYC with supers who fixed our kitchen sinks or hung things. We didn’t know how to light our gas stove in the event of a power outage. The next day, our new neighbors, the ones with the late-night dog walking, invited us over for a warm meal and a kerosene heater. They bickered about using the kerosene heater for a bit while I silently prayed they would decide to keep using it because it was just so warm. They also told us how to light the gas stove. Game changer.
So that’s when we fell in love with Beacon. In the winter. While the power was out. It brought us together with our neighbors, and introduced us to the concept of community, something which New York City has in a different way, but not the same way that a small city-town can produce.
What is your moving-in or moving-back story? Or if you moved here 20 or 50 years ago, share that story too!
"Ready To Move To Beacon For This View"
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Photo Credit: @nihaonewyork
On Election Day, a reader tagged us on Instagram in this photo they took of the corner of Main Street and Tioronda, just outside of the Howland Cultural Center. In their photo post, they wrote: “I think I’m ready to move to Beacon for this view… just kidding, or maybe not.” They went on to use the hashtags #smalltownvibes to describe a few of the emotions they were feeling about the scene.
I wanted to bring the photo to the surface for a few reasons:
It’s beautiful.
It’s a special thing to be included in someone’s thoughts of how they view Beacon and why they would move here, or have already moved here.
It reminds me of why I moved here.
It shows how someone who does move here and is brand new values the same things that those who currently live here also love and cherish. Sometimes there is a fear of people coming to a “new” great area. (Beacon is always new, it’s always changing, and thanks to the Beacon Historical Society for making it easy for us to follow the city’s living history, and to the neighbors who share their stories on a daily basis.)
Keeping this view seems consistent with the City Council’s rezoning work, that was especially heavy during the Building Moratorium of 2017, where several zoning requirements were tweaked and tightened after several buildings that had existed for a while in concept were built and actually presented themselves in the flesh of concrete.
In the December 18, 2017 City Council Meeting, legislation was passed for the Fishkill Creek Development that would limit the height of a building to three stories. After a new four-story building was constructed at 344 Main Street, the public pushed for limits to the heights of buildings. The new legislation caps new buildings at three stories and not more than 40 feet in height, as first reported by Jeff Simms for the Highlands Current.
When, or if, you see pictures of people who live in New York City getting fresh air, it is usually at Central Park, and many tree branches are in the frame. They want more tree branches in the frame. All of the numerous founding transformational people of Beacon, and there have been many over the generations (the Howlands, the Sauers, etc.) have come from far downstate in the city, to our lower “upstate” region in the south of the state, all looking for space and fresh air above and around them.
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