New self-guided tour is picture perfect

The village of Millbrook is widely known as one of the Hudson Valley’s most picturesque communities — it’s got charm, it’s got character, it’s got class. Come Saturday, Oct. 4, it will also have a brand-new, self-guided walking tour showcasing the village’s history and beauty in both English and Italian. The tour program is aptly named Museum in the Streets.Museum in the Streets is an initiative that was created in the Loire Valley, France, in 1993 by former Egyptologist and Brooklyn Museum administrator Patrick Cardon. The program has been adopted in communities throughout the United States and France, including Danbury and Ridgefield, Conn., Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., and coastal Maine.The decision to use Italian as the second language was based on wanting to pay homage to the large Italian community within the Millbrook and Washington area. According to a press release on the program, “Many Italian families settled in Millbrook in the early 20th century, when they came to work as stonemasons or laborers on the large estates. A great many of these families came from an area halfway between Rome and Naples, in or near the town of Fondi, 80 miles south of Rome.”Co-chairs of the Millbrook project were Barbara Pierce and Mayor Laura Hurley. Pierce is an old friend of Cardon’s and suggested bringing the Museum in the Streets to Millbrook. Pierce, aided by her husband Charlie (who was well suited for the task with a resume that includes work as past chairman of the English Department at Vassar College and retired director of the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City), set about getting a grant as “seed money” to begin the project. The mayor was enthusiastic and supported all efforts along the way.“We are so proud of our history,” she said through the press release, “that we are even putting it in the streets.”Taking it one step further, Pierce spoke about what some of the program’s goals are.“We hope that the Museum in the Streets will be an educational tool for our school children, our citizenry and our visitors, and tie our future to our past,” she stated. “It is often said that what the son wishes to forget, the grandson wishes to remember.”To make the Museum in the Streets come alive took roughly two years of planning, by two volunteers committees. Photographs and historic documents were collected and sorted from the Town of Washington/Village of Millbrook Historical Society as well as from private collections. “Both committees hope that this bi-lingual installation will inspire new initiatives in both the educational and business communities,” stated the press release. “They also hope that it will appeal to Millbrook’s foreign visitors and draw business traffic to the village.”“Let’s admit it,” added Pierce (whose daughter is married to an Italian diplomat), “Italy is fun.”According to Pierce, “Town and village historian David Greenwood wrote the English texts; his next-door neighbor, Giancarlo Grisi, co-owner of Millbrook Country House, did the Italian translations.”The installation of the 31 permanent bi-lingual plaques was done in collaboration with the Millbrook Free Library. Following its opening, the Millbrook Museum in the Streets fund will become part of the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley.The unveiling of the Museum in the Streets tour will take place on Saturday, Oct. 4, and it will include a community singalong. The free community event will take place at the Millbrook Band Shell at 11 a.m. Among the many who will speak is David Thorne, senior advisor to the Secretary of State and a former U.S. ambassador to Italy. He is also a distant relative of the Thorne family, which has lived in the Millbrook area since the early 18th century.The musical program will include a wide array of talent, including: Steve Ross, tenor Robert White, tenor Joseph Freer, tenor Buddy Marona, vocalist Barbara Rankin, The Madrigals choir, The Hudson Valley Brass Quartet and readings from Rosemary Sepe Neilson and professor Joseph Luzzi.For more information go to www.themuseuminthestreets.com.