I was recalling the Town of Amenia as it was when we moved here in 1965.

There were two grocery stores within walking distance of the traffic light...the Grand Union (now Sears) and Cunningham’s (now KJ’S). There was a drugstore with a soda fountain next to the Post Office. There was a movie theatre, though I think it had just gone dark in 1965...we never did get there for a show. There was a feed, hardware and general farm equipment store where Judge Manning's is now. There was a barber shop, with a barber pole. There was train service to New York, and the old Depot Hotel, though decrepit, was still standing. And finally, the intersections of Route 44 and 343 (now Four Brothers) was presided over by one of rural America's oldest and most historic Inns, the De La Vergne, which was shaded by huge trees and served as the social and geographical center of town. This is the town we have largely lost, to arson and poor planning. No one can say that things have gotten better in Amenia!

Our relationship with Amenia has to be understood in the context of our sense of "place," strong in both my husband and myself, and in the chance we had in 1965 to move into the house that we still live in today. This house was built by Jabez Flint in 1813 for his family; he and seven subsequent generations of Flints were born, lived and died here, until economics and changes in farming practices caught up with them in 1963, and they lost the farm. My husband Jamie and I came to the area in 1964. His first job was teaching music at Ed Pulling's Millbrook School (then for boys only), even though his field of expertise was English Literature, with a bent towards Chaucer. Through a lucky series of events we were able to buy the Flint house, now divested of its original 500 acres of farmland, and moved in after the birth of our first child in July, 1965...

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