SALISBURY — A forest fire burned 73 acres in the Bear Mountain area of the Taconic Range Tuesday, May 10.According to Jason Wilson, chief of the Lakeville Hose Company, the fire was concentrated in the Ball Brook camp area which is just above Scoville Ore Mine Road.Photographer Joseph Meehan was out that morning taking sunrise photos. He didn’t realize the fire was moving slowly across the peak but he saw it and captured an image of it that can be seen at The Lakeville Journal’s website, www.tricornernews.com. Meehan said the fire looked like some kind of amoeba snaking in a narrow path across the mountaintop.The initial 911 call for “an unknown fire” was received at Litchfield County Dispatch at approximately 12 minutes before midnight on Monday, May 9.“We spent all of Tuesday on the fire scene,” Wilson said. “We went in at 6 a.m. and exited the scene about 7 p.m.”Lakeville Hose Company crews were assisted by fire companies from North Canaan, Cornwall, Norfolk and Sheffield, Mass., in addition to a team from the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection forestry unit. The Millerton fire company was standing by to cover for Lakeville, and the Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance Service was also on standby.Salisbury resident Chris Janelli’s morning began a little earlier than usual on that Tuesday — at 1 a.m., with a phone call from First Selectman Curtis Rand, warning him that the fire was near his home.“He told me to look out the window,” said Janelli, who lives at the end of Scoville Ore Mine Road, off Undermountain Road (Route 41).Janelli couldn’t see anything from inside the house, but from outside he could see the fire on the mountainside.And thus began a long day, with teams of firefighters moving into the woods above Janelli’s Bingham Brook Farm, quickly clearing an access trail and setting smaller “back fires” to burn up the underbrush and deny the main blaze new fuel.Incredibly, after the initial warning, Janelli went back to bed.“It wasn’t going to get here in four hours,” he shrugged.On Saturday, May 14, Janelli led a reporter into the woods where the firefighters had been. It’s a fairly steep area about 200 yards above the two houses on the property; the trail runs roughly north and south.Janelli said the trail clearing team was particularly impressive: “Guys with chain saws, guys with backpack leaf blowers, guys with rakes — and they were moving.”All that was visible on Saturday along the newly cleared trail was burned leaves and scorched laurel.The main fire did not make it to the preventive fires set behind Janelli’s home.Janelli praised the efforts of the firefighters and said he wasn’t really worried — except when the wind shifted. “Yeah, it was exciting, I guess.”By Tuesday afternoon, firefighters were using the area next to the tennis courts on Mount Riga Corporation property — about a quarter of a mile from the dam at South Pond on the Mount Washington Road — as a staging ground. The teams moved through the woods on a well-defined if not especially wide trail to the fire area. Mount Riga Corporation caretaker Danny Brazee assisted, with his intimate knowledge of the area, which is a mixture of private land owned by the Mount Riga Corporation and National Park Service land that includes the local section of the Appalachian Trail. The trail is the eastern border of the corporation’s property; the fire was beyond that.There are about 40 summer camps on Mount Riga, but none of them were in any danger. The town of Salisbury maintains the narrow dirt road going up the mountain, and the corporation makes available a public beach, access to an old cemetery, hiking opportunities, the Bald Peak lookout and a waterfall.It is worth noting, however, that corporation lands are clearly marked with signs that prohibit camping and fires.Margie Vail, who with husband Charlie lives at the end of Bunker Hill Road (they also own a camp on Riga Lake) said “it smelled as if someone put out a campfire in our yard.” By the late afternoon the smell was detectable in the Salisbury and Lakeville village centers.Wilson said that only one day-hiker on the Appalachian Trail had to be directed away from the fire area.It was a busy day. “We had approximately 120 firefighters from a total of 11 companies working to put out the fire,” he said.There were no injuries.“The biggest challenge was the difficulty of the terrain,” Wilson said. “There are no roads in the area and the fire units literally had to blaze their own trails, to get the equipment, hoses and personnel in.“The guys really worked hard and did a great job.”
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One systemic consequence of slavery is the loss and obscuring of the histories of those who were enslaved. Records were often not kept about where Africans had been stolen from or who they were related to. Families were torn apart, leaving nothing but the faintest traces of the past. The delineation point, where genealogists can no longer trace histories back, is refered to this as the “document wall.”
Today, 250 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and more than 160 years since the Emancipation Proclamation, there is a growing effort to restore some of the history stripped from enslaved people and their descendants. Among the leaders of these efforts is Mills, president of the Alex Breanne Corporation, a nonprofit organization that works to identify previously anonymous Black Americans from history and connect them with their living relatives.
The work began with Mills’ sister, who started digging into their family’s past in the 1990’s and introduced him to this emerging world of genealogy. Through that process, the Mills family discovered their great-great-grandfather, Ned Mills, who had been enslaved in Texas. His last name came from his final enslaver and remains the family surname. Through their research, they found that the document wall directly affected their ancestor, who learned of his liberation on June 19, 1865, now commemorated as Juneteenth.
“For the first time,” Mills writes on his website, “American slavery wasn’t something that had happened to anonymous people in a history book. It had happened to my family.”
The discovery gave Mills a familial pride he had been missing for years. That pride fueled his desire to help others find their own history. In 2023, Mills received his certificate in genealogical research from Boston University. He has used his expertise to help descendants of enslaved people uncover histories they never dreamed of learning.
To do this, he uses a process called “reverse genealogy,” identifying a person from the past and working forward to discover their descendants. Along the way, Mills has found some remarkable people who fought for freedom on American soil, some of whom were never freed.
Pay Bill for Robin Starr’s service in the Continental Army.Courtesy the Alex Breanne Corporation
At the Cornwall Historical Society event, Mills will present the stories of four Connecticut families: Job Lathrop of Norwich, the son of Pirmus Armes, about whom Mills has published a book; Prince Mortimer of Middletown, also the subject of a book by Mills;, the three sons of London Wallace of Simsbury; and Robert “Robin” Starr of Danbury, who later lived in Cornwall and Sharon.
A few years ago, Cornwall Consolidated School social studies teacher Will Vincent reached out to Mills for research guidance on a local history project his students were undertaking. Together, they learned about Naomi Freeman of Cornwall. After purchasing an acre of land on Great Hollow Road in 1828, Naomi Freeman became the first Black female landowner in Cornwall.
The students petitioned the town to rename a road after the historic Cornwall resident In April 2025, Great Hollow Road was officially renamed Naomi Freeman Historic Road. U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes joined Mills and the Cornwall Consildated School students for a presentation of their research.
Since then, Mills has guided the students in their quest to learn more about Starr’s story. Starr was a Revolutionary War soldier who joined the Continental Army to earn enough money to buy his own freedom, receiving the Badge of Merit in the process. The stories of his descendents’ services are equally worthy of their own books.
In recognition of Mills and the students’ work, First Selectman Gordon Ridgway proclaimed Feb. 8 as Robin Starr Day.
Preregistration is required for the event at the Cornwall Historical Society. To learn more about Mills’ work, visit
alexbreanne.org.
John Mills speaking at Quinnipiac University.Courtesy the Alex Breanne Corporation
Stephanie Saetta runs Charlie Chicken Bones, a sanctuary in Salisbury.
Dogs have been at the center of Saetta’s life since childhood. She remembers going to the library to research different breeds and trying to convince her parents the family needed a dog. She had her heart set on an Irish Wolfhound, but she was more than happy when her mom brought home a West Highland terrier.
After college, she adopted Charlie as a puppy from a rescue on Long Island. He was a hound-shepherd-Rottweiler mix who suffered from intense seizures. Some veterinarians recommended euthanasia, but Saetta wasn’t ready to give up on him.
When Charlie would have an episode, she would sit with him, nose to nose, talking him through it. She learned to look for the moment he began to come around — when he could smell her again and his tail started to wag.
“You only get one or two of these soul connection dogs, so I do this in his honor,” Saetta said. “I like to think that all the dogs that come through are going to have that person that they connect with just the same.”
Through a network of women working to rescue animals in Texas, she learned about the desperate situations facing many dogs.
With limited space, some public pounds euthanize even healthy animals to make room. Limited access to veterinary care leaves sick dogs or unvaccinated puppies especially vulnerable.
Saetta saw that reality firsthand with a puppy named Gus, a Labrador mix she fostered who has since been adopted. Gus and his sisters had been dumped beside a road, where they were living under an abandoned car. People would leave food for them, but no one would take them to the pound.
“Even the people who rescue animals down there were like, ‘sadly, the best place for them to be is on the side of the road,’” she said. “That’s safer. Someone might actually help them that way.”
Saetta knows that there are far more dogs than any one person can save, but she also knows that helping one dog means one fewer on the street.
Stephanie Saetta,with her rescue dog George and Blue (left), a shepherd mix awaiting his forever home.Madi Long
Charlie Chicken Bone Sanctuary operates entirely through foster homes, a model that Saetta believes is best for the dogs and the humans hoping to adopt them.
Rather than moving directly from a difficult environment into a permanent home, the dogs have a chance to settle into a quieter setting. They can learn what it’s like to live with a family, sleep somewhere comfortable and receive affection without fighting for attention. Fostering also allows the rescue to really get to know each dog.
“As fosters, we’re honest,” said Saetta. We’ll tell you everything that’s been bad, everything that’s been good. What their temperament is and how they’ve responded to all the things they’ve experienced.”
A successful adoption is not just about finding a dog a home; it’s about finding the right home where the dog and family can thrive together.
Saetta is looking for more people willing to open their homes to foster dogs. She understands that the thought of growing attached and eventually saying goodbye can feel daunting. But she sees that goodbye a little differently.
Fostering means being part of a dog’s journey, even if only for a short time. It gives dogs a safe place to rest, the chance to trust again and the love they have gone without for much of their lives. And when the time comes for them to leave, it is not really a loss. It is the reward of knowing they are moving on to a forever home.
Blue, Saetta’s current foster, is hoping to find his perfect home.
Blue, a 7 year-old Shepard mix, is waiting for his forever home. Madi Long
Now around 7 years old, Blue spent most of his life wandering the streets of Texas. People sometimes left food out for him, but his mangy, dirty coat kept them from stopping to pet him. Today, he has a chance to experience something different.
Blue is still waiting for his forever home. Saetta believes he would do best as the only dog in a household or alongside another senior dog. He will need someone willing to continue working with him on his training and understand that a dog with his history needs patience.
But what he gives in return is a whole lot of love.
“He’s so enthusiastic, he’s so excited for life, he’s so friendly, and he’s got such a good heart, and he loves to cuddle,” Saetta said. “He’s a good, good, good dog.”
For more information on adopting Blue or how to foster, visit ccbsanctuary.org.
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