Eighteen years ago, Ward Mintz and his partner, Floyd Lattin, bought an 1850s house in Kingston overlooking the Hudson River. Since then, the two have assembled a significant collection of contemporary and historic art, including many works by artists living in Kingston and the region. Mintz is more than a local art patron. He’s contributed significantly to the enrichment of the city’s arts and cultural community.
Ever since Frank Waters arrived in Kingston from New York City eight years ago with his wife and two children, he’s been helping transform the city’s cultural scene and cement its community bonds.
The plan allows businesses to expand their facilities onto the street at certain times, making it easier to fulfill the state’s social-distancing requirements and to compensate for limits on indoor capacity.
“The end goal is to have a comprehensive document that’s an assessment of what’s currently in the city and also hopefully some sort of plan and strategy of what the future of arts and culture should look like.”
Should the Pike Plan, which was constructed in the mid-1970s as a way to revitalize Kingston’s moribund shopping district, be preserved, necessitating more repairs and ongoing maintenance, or should it be taken down? Both options carry significant costs.
Neighbors refer to it as “the pit.” Excavated two years ago, the site of the Irish Cultural Center of the Hudson Valley (ICCHV), at 32 Abeel Street in Kingston’s Rondout, is an eyesore for those who venture up Company Path and has been a safety hazard for the neighboring properties. First proposed in 2011, the 16,000-square-foot structure, which would include a pub, exhibit space, 171-seat theater, and classrooms, is yet to be built.
The Cornell Creative Arts Center (CCAC) at 129 Cornell Street in Midtown Kingston isn’t just a place where people with disabilities can take art, dance, and pottery classes. They can do businesses alongside people from the mainstream community, helping to break down barriers.
According to owner Leslie Woodward, nut milks are high in antioxidants, have a lot of protein and no refined sugars. Unlike some other nut milks, which substitute paste for nuts and have fillers, Edenesque’s products are “40 percent nuts. I make it the old-fashioned way. It’s a clean, honest product.”
With Kingston’s stores and businesses mostly closed and its streets eerily quiet, there’s a bustle of activity at People’s Place, the YMCA of Ulster County, Catholic Charities, and other locations around the city. The demand on the city’s food pantries has never been greater.
The abandoned mansion is off the beaten path, seemingly stuck in a time when the Hudson Valley was a sleepy backwater. The Point, as it is known, is sequestered at the end of a winding road in a forested section of Mills-Norrie State Park, located in Staatsburg. It’s set at an angle on a high promontory of the Hudson River, which glimmers through the thick growth of trees. The windows are boarded up, the roof of the large stone portico at the entrance has half collapsed, the porch is gone and the bare lawn is surrounded by a utilitarian chain-link fence; yet the Gothic-style building, with its tall gables graced by carved verge boards, bay windows and squared-off, compact mass, exudes an echo of fairytale magic. Constructed of bluestone, whose soft, faded gray tones blend in with the site, the house has a cottagelike intimacy.