Pine Plains Views in Video

A Day to Remember

But it's really about why we live here and, if you don't, why you should come for a visit!

Howe They Farmed — A Mother’s Memories

This is about. the Howe family. In 1939, Carolyn Howe got married. One of her wedding presents was a 16mm movie camera. She did exactly what a young mother...

Shucks — Everything Goes Better with Oysters!

For a while, in TDBTP (Those Days Before The Pandemic), Lia’s Mountain View had Oysters ‘n Wings Tuesday Nights. Whether or not you liked oysters (or even wings), you were...

When A Family Business is a Community Affair

It's sad to see any business close, but in a small rural town the only hardware store is a vital necessity.

Burger Night at the Farm

In a reverse of "farm to table", this is brings the table to the farm. People mixing with each other, eating with the cows. In Spain they run with the...

A Place for Anyone

This is a celebration of a special place. It's a restaurant, an Italian one. But not only do you not have to be Italian to go there, you don't have...

Where We Come From and Where We Are Going…

For several years a tradition has been growing in Pine Plains: the annual Lantern Tour of the Evergreen Cemetery. As a fund-raiser for the Library, the historical society researches the...

Rapid COVID-19 Testing Comes to Pine Plains

This website has not taken a side in political issues and I do not intend to start now. Unfortunately, politics has hijacked rational discussion of the COVID-19 pandemic. While we...

This Old Mill

I often drove by an old building on the outskirts of Pine Plains and wondered about what it used to be. As it was beside a small pond, I assumed...

Learning History By Living It!

Students enrolled in Mr. Murray's Military History course are bringing their research and studies of the American Revolution to life. Through historic interpretation and documented analysis, students set out to...

A Father’s Story

As far as I know, Second Lieutenant John Williams never came to Pine Pine Plains in person. But his story has come to town through his daughter, Esther, who brought...

It’s Not Your Grandfather’s Shop Class!

Because it is not your grandfather's world anymore. It's theirs! To thrive in their world, they need new skills to cope with changing technology. The challenge is not only learning...

A Global Pandemic, A Small Town, and A Pharmacist

Pine Plains, NY, with a population of about 1,500 located 100 miles due north of New York City could have been easily overlooked in the data and statistics about COVID-19....

Roseland Ranch, Where All the Good Times Have Gone….

It finally had to happen! This much-beloved resort where friendships and even families were formed closed down a few years ago. The regulars hoped that somehow it would re-open and...

The Man Who Made Pine Plains Tick

Once a week for many years Greg McEldowney would come and wind the Town Clock and keep it running. He passed on November 11, 2017. He was a keeper of...

You Know It’s Spring When…

It's time to shear the sheep! There are all sorts of signs of Spring, but I've picked this one to show on Pine Plains Views: the annual sheep shearing on...

Last Night at the Wild Hive

After a four-year run, the Wild Hive Farm, Store & Café Bakery closed. A few miles away, in Clinton Corners, not Pine Plains, but it could have been and I...

Riding High in Copake! The Antique Bicycle Auction

A whole world converged on Copake, NY, -- the world of antique bicycle collectors! Why neighboring Copake which, unlike Pine Plains, does not even have ONE traffic light? Because of...

Nanjing on the Hudson

Once the world was flat then it became round. Now it is flat again... The high school cafeteria was filled with the sounds and sights of Chinese in a welcome...

It Takes a Play to Make a Community: Backstage at The Music Man

Pine Plains has a lively history of live theatre -- a story in itself. And now, every year, like high schools all over the country, it puts on an annual...

An Old Building Brings New Life to Pine Plains

This is Downton Pine Plains, New York. Well, some people might not call it a real downtown, but it's where our traffic light, bank, pharmacy, and a genuine French...

It Takes a Community to Run a Railroad

Actually, this is not a railroad story. It is about, a group of people who decided to run a railroad. A real one, as you can see for yourself in...

A Master Class for the High School Jazz Band

When Wynton Marsalis gave the opening concert for the new Stising Center, he also opened some hearts and minds of the local high school Jazz Band in a Master Class.

A Day for Honor

Veterans Day, 2015 I can't really say that it rained on our parade 'cause, well, it didn't really rain as such and we did not have any kind of parade...

It Was All Treats — Halloween 2015

I am sure that this goes on all over America in small towns, but I am so thrilled at how our community of Pine Plains celebrates Halloween with its children. No committees or...

Making History

"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" If an event happens in the past and is not,...

Sergeant, Make It Happen!

There was a touch of Revolutionary War and black powder smoke right in the middle of Pine Plains the other day as Neil Murray was giving his students of military...

Spinning Squash at the Ag Fair

It's a yearly tradition that I've been going to for years: the 2015 Ag Fair hosted by the Future Farmers of America at the high school in Pine Plains. This year I...

Soldiers’ Tales

Master Sergeant (Ret.) David A. Cookingham Jr. August 8, 1971 to May 4, 2015 This official obituary tells only part of the story: PINE PLAINS- David Cookingham Jr., 43, of Broadway,...

So, Let’s Make a Knife!

A working conversation with Master Bladesmith Joseph Szilaski I heard that there was this guy who lived somewhere in Pine Plains and made knives -- great ones -- although no one had ever actually seen...

The High Schoolers Paint the Town!

https://vimeo.com/310409219 Store Decorating We don't often get a chance to see what goes on in the schools because everything is tucked away in brick buildings. When I heard that the...

Let’s Remember Sal….

Sal passed away in May, 2013, at the age of 77. Although I would run into Sal at one of his jobs in town, either at at Deuel's hardware or...

A Live South African Braai Right in Pine Plains!

For the second year, Will Carter, of Pine Plains Fine Wines and Spirits, hosted a tasting of South African wines and food to raise money for the Pine Plains Food Pantry....

Pine Plains on Parade: The Parade of Lights, 2015

I thought I would do something different this year for the Parade of Lights. Instead of filming the parade itself, I would film Pine Plains FROM the parade.

Burgers with the Herd

Burgers with the cows at Chaseholm Farm. The first in what I hope will be an on-going event. We had a great time, hung out with our favorite herd of cows,...

Everyone Loves a Parade!

And this proves it! https://vimeo.com/97728273 I was told that the Fire Department was going to hold a parade. Usually parades are held to honor, remember, or celebrate something. I'm not sure...

Where Every Car Has a Story

Wheels of Time, the shop of dreams and fond memories. Whether you prefer stories about people over cars or cars over people, you can't go wrong here! See for yourself!...

A Halloween Story: Those Pumpkins on Patchin Mills Bridge

Every year, come Halloween, Jack O' Lanterns, dozens of them, show up and glow on the bridge at Patchin Mills. This is the story behind them. https://vimeo.com/52763249 If you have...

A Farrier? What’s That?

Here in northeast Dutchess County, it was dairy farms and we were the Milk Bottle of New York City. But the dairy farms closed and different animals were brought to...

The Culture of Agriculture

The farmers may be leaving their farms and the farmland, even if preserved, may be left only as viewscape. But a culture and tradition of agriculture remains. Each year the...

The Parade of Lights 2012

It's the tradition. Every year, at 3PM the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Pine Plains decorates itself with Christmas Lights. And then, at 5, just when it is dark, Pine Plains becomes...

Chads Don’t Hang in Pine Plains

The 2015 Town Board election was very close. Even for a small town like ours, only 3 votes separated the 2nd and 3rd place candidates. Absentee ballots could change the...

Sheep and Alpacas and Llamas and Goats and Wool and Food Festival

Seems like they had everything! Particularly, a large crowd on a sunny October day at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds.

Picking Pumpkins on a Fall Day

A fun way to get some fresh air, some good food, and get to know a local farmer -- visit a local farm! Here, at Rocky Reef Farm, the public...

Love Where You Live: The Story of Hammertown

Because it sets itself apart from the ordinary by striving to do things better and living up to its motto: Love Where You Live, it was able to invite its...

A Touch of Country: The Fall Fair

Every year the Stissing Mountain High School chapter of the Future Farmers of America runs an ag fair. I've filmed different parts of it before, but this year I've pretty...

For the Sake of History

It's great when a community pulls together for a cause. In this case it was pulling pork as a fund-raiser for the local historical society. Two hundred tickets were sold...

Wednesday Jam

Local folks who like to play bluegrass, they have been getting together on Wednesday nights for over 40 years. They never had a name for their group so I just...

The Porsches Have Landed!

Right here in Pine Plains! A fleet (what do you call a flock of Porsches, anyway?) of all vintages of Porsches as the Hudson Valley Chapter of the Porsche Club...

Scenes and Behind Them at Lime Rock Park

Although it is a race course, it really is a park where the public can watch from under the trees and on the hills without the confines of grandstands. They...

Chop Shop Suey

They're always talking about what we import from China. Well, here's what we export to back to them. WARNING: Not for the mechanically squeamish!

Roll Your Own — Chinese Dumplings!

For those of us in Pine Plains who crave good Chinese food it means hitting the road. But we are fortunate that just up the road is a chef and...

Meet the Candidates Night, 2017

What I hope will become a tradition in the future, the Pine Plains Free Library hosted an evening for the community to hear candidates for local offices discuss the issues. ...

Time Marches On…

A great introduction to Pine Plains is the Memorial Day Parade. If they're not actually in it, they're watching it! This was in 2000. The rest of the world, but...

Food For Thought

Field work -- literally -- when Vassar College students milked cows, fed turkeys, picked fruit, mucked stalls and wrote ethnographies as part of an anthropology course.

Farming the Future

The 4- H Club dairy cow competition was a proud event for Pine Plains at the Dutchess County Fair. Gina Brooks and her brother, Patrick, showed two of her cows,...

That Old House

It's often referred to as "that old house by the bank parking lot" by people who do not remember the name, Louis Graham/Brush House. I confess that I was, up...

The Family Farm

This is about a dairy farmer, Barry Chase, who is about to sell his herd of milking cows. I visited with him and his wife, Rosey, a few days before...

It Takes a Community to Run a Race

The first triathalon of Pine Plains. The race itself was the shortest part of the story. It took months of planning, organizing, recruiting and training local residents to be part...

“Those Gangsters Were No Dummies”

If this looks as if a man is trying to disappear into that hole in the brush, well, that was the whole idea. It leads to where a huge moonshine...

A House Moves Home

An old farmhouse was resting on a warped frame that could no longer support it. But this house is not going to be torn down. It will be restored after...

What IS Community, Anyway?

It was a large red barn right by the side of the road. It was so well-known it was a landmark for directions. Then, on a Tuesday morning, if you...

The Tree Couple

WARNING: DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME! We had this tree... well, up until recently it had been 3 trees, a triple crown, but when two of them came down in...

Chopping Rock

A video visit with Verne Tower, stone-cutter, as he re-creates an elaborate marble stoop for a historic mansion in Hudson, NY. While Verne may be doing wonderful restoration and preservation...

Power and Authority in a Rural School District: A Study

I met the author Carol Ascher at a social function where we were table mates. When I mentioned that I was from Pine Plains, I was surprised that she expressed...

On the Steps of the County Court House…

They said it would be sold on the court house steps. They were not exaggerating. Just not the front steps, the back ones. Wherever. I just had to see it...

Yikes! They’re Packing up the Library!

Yes, packing up the Library to move to.... the Library! What's happening here? Don't ask me, I haven't the slightest idea and I don't think anyone else in Pine Plains...

The Long Haul Home: The Library Returns!

Talk about returning overdue library books... In what we hope will be the resolution of a long and complex story, books are coming out of storage and the library will...

“Going… Going…. Wait! It’s Coming Back!

So long known as "That" building", Memorial Hall -- or whatever you called it in the past -- now has a new future. And one that will help Pine Plains...

The Next Chapter: The Library Moved. The Story Goes On…

You know you're from Pine Plains if you have an opinion about this library situation. And if you are wondering why I am covering this story as it drags on and...