to everyone who would like to see vintage fotos
of Halcyon Hall and the Bennett campus from
the turn of the century, google-Hudson River Valley Heritage, a couple dozen fantastic photos can be found on their site. Also the
Village of Millbrook/Town of Washington
Historical Society website has a little bit.

In other Bennet "newz" [i feel like Ron Burgundy}... let's see, where do i begin.?
ok the plan submitted by Saugerties based
developer David Blumenthal calls for the construction of 95 homes on the Bennett site.
They are sorta faux Victorian, psuedo tudor
style facades. Slightly cheesy, but not that
bad relatively speaking. It could have been ALOT worse, as in Westchester aesthetics.
Millbrook Associates are the designated designers on the project. They do top notch
work, and have an impeccable reputation
regionally.
The East wing with the Queen Anne tower is
the only section of Halcyon to be saved. The
Chapel is to be moved close to it . Two
houses on the property are to be moved
up the hill to the golf course.
Everything else is to be demolished, the stone
is to be grinded and buried onsite. ONE undesignated
section of the masterfully executed stonework
is to be preserved. I presume the beautiful
little nursery school, built in 1930, possibly
by acclaimed Boston architects Allen & Collens, WILL be saved as it is a private parcel? i am unsure.. The Exmoore
mansion will be literally surrounded by this
development. It is currently for sale, at below market rate, as are dozens of more modest properties adjacent to the development. So it
has ALREADY had a negative effect on the
local real estate environment.
I think it is great they are attempting to save what they can. Obviously it impacts there business plan, as any of these concessions to preservation are strictly in the interest of
public relations, but so what? Most developers
wouldn't even bother. It is an indication of
how sensitive to the locals this whole affair is,
MORE than a case of enlightened planning,
i suspect, but who cares? i would like to be
optimistic and open minded.
Recent developments though, do not bode well for citizens hope for input. It is no
secret that this deal was pretty much cut behind closed doors, with zero public input.
The "official" public meeting on the topic
has been predictably stalled, and when it was
finally set for the final thursday of November,
the planning board cancelled the meeting 3 hours before it was set to begin. People are PISSED. The reason cited was unstated issues that have arisen between Blumenthal and the current owner of the parcel, Bud Heithaus.
There are other problems. Local property owners in outlying areas of the village who have been denied village water service for years have filed lawsuits protesting the
sweetheart deal proposed for water service at Bennett. An expensive deal just got more so!
There still is no Negative Environmental
Impact Designation in hand {allowing a
development to go forward.] People are
convinced that public input has been not
just stifled, but nonexistent. It is true that so much of this complex proposal has been already decided without a SINGLE public
meeting on the issue! Astonishing, really,
anywhere but Millbrook.
And then there is that pesky MASSIVE
asbestos and lead contamination. Bummer.
Half of the above information was made available in the local newspaper. I have only mentioned names that have been printed
publicly in context of Bennet's impending development.Except Ron Burgundy. And, oh,
Allen & Collens. {It really does sound like a wine cooler...]
in any event, the saga continues. Publicly stated plans to have the buildings down by now in fact, are gonna taka a little longer folks. ha ha....

This is one tough fuckin building....

PS - keep knockin us out with your amazing
enterprise Mr. Motts! You Rock The Planet!!!!

a local photographer,also the co founder of Hudson Valley Paranormal investigations was awarded 1st prize in
a contest for best Ghost picture, by the
Sci Fi channel as a promotion for it's program "Ghost Hunters''. The photo is a nightime exterior shot of Bennet/Halcyon
Hall purporting to show a ghostly image of a woman in one of the courtyard windows, actually the "children's wing"
of the building.It is in the life section of today's Poughkeepsie Journal. It looks like a shrouded figure, kinda religious.
it would probably scare the shit outta me in person, but in the foto it seems like
alot of these "sightings'', what i call the
"Jesus-on-a-Taco'' images. But who knows?

amazing that all that info could fit onto
a couple of zip drives today....

very peter halley...