This story was printed in two parts. The first part appeared in the issue of Nov. 24. CORNWALL — About two dozen people attended a revaluation workshop at Town Hall Saturday morning, Nov. 12. It was the second opportunity for Assessor Barbara Bigos to help people understand how their property is assigned a value to be taxed.One of Bigos’ self-assigned “homework” tasks is to send a survey to property buyers. It helps her get a handle on those anomalies that seem to be the norm right now. People are getting big bargains on properties that owners are desperate to sell. Recent sales have been mostly on unique second homes, where someone who can afford not to haggle and “must have” a piece of property will pay a high asking price.The surveys also offer a good picture of what makes a property desirable.Hilltops and bubbling brooksIn Cornwall, there are no real neighborhoods, so the perceived prestige (or lack of it) a neighborhood can confer on a house doesn’t really affect property values. But location plays an enormous part in property values here. A setting might be at the top of a hill, with privacy and astonishing views. One home could be at the edge of a busy road while the house next door might be set back behind a buffer of trees.The biggest influence on the value of most properties is the site factor. Each property is assigned a rating on a scale of one to 10. Factored in are desirable and undesirable traits. A good view can easily triple an assessment. But if getting to that view requires traveling up a treacherous driveway, the site value is diminished.The gray areas that come up are endless. Suppose a vacant lot is being assessed. A brook runs through it. Building a home on the lot will require avoiding wetlands and their buffer zone. The lot has less buildable area, lowering its value —even though having a brook might seem to be a huge selling point.But if the same piece of property already has a home on it (likely built before wetlands regulations were established by the state in 1970) then the assessment is quite different. Those wetlands are now a babbling brook that adds loads of charm to the property, and bumps up the value considerably.Bigos said it is very important for her to know if a property has a right-of-way or other easement over it. That can mean a big tax savings. On the other hand, property that is adjacent to conservation land will have a higher assessment. Using an overhead projector, Bigos did her best at the workshop to explain factors that ranged from fairly clear to completely baffling. Codes and abbreviations, for example. “BAS” refers to the main floor, not the basement; the basement is the “UBM.”For most homeowners, the easiest and probably most important thing to check on a field card — free copies are available in the assessor’s office — is the description on the back of the card.The number of bedrooms does not matter, but baths and half baths do. The style of the house also matters, because current market trends might be more favorable to contemporaries than cape-style buildings. Electric heat is less desirable and will bring down the value. Clapboard siding and wood roof shingles are more valuable.Simple drawings indicate building dimensions. The numbers are rounded off and determine the assessed square footage for each floor and any outbuildings. Those are easy and important numbers to check for accuracy.Homes are given a grade that has to do with quality of materials used and building details such as crown molding and granite countertops, and their condition. A question from the audience about crawl spaces led to a lot of information about how slabs, “nasty” old crawl spaces and basements, unfinished, semi-finished, finished or finished with a walkout, can make a big assessment difference.The starting point: acreageAssessing homes and the minimum lots prescribed by zoning starts with some solid numbers, called the site index, beginning with $84,000 for 1 acre and up to $117,500 for 5. Excess acreage is listed separately on the card. An acre is always valued at $10,000 to start, but a curve is used to decrease the price per acre for large properties, or where land is not developable.Under Connecticut law, properties are taxed at 70 percent of assessed value.Bigos said she welcomes discussion about any property, and is always glad to have a chance to educate people on how it all works, but she stressed that people should not compare their own property with other properties, and they should not try to bring in issues that are not relevant to the property itself.That said, there is another very important value indicator to consider. “If you don’t think your house will sell for the assessed value, that’s the time to question it. People who are not planning to sell don’t think about it, but it’s important to ask yourself, if I were to sell this house tomorrow, what would I ask for it?” Bigos said. “Maybe you don’t think the site index is correct. That’s an important discussion for us to have.”Audience members prompted a discussion about added value. Some saw it as being penalized for property upkeep. But there is no getting around the fact that a new roof or driveway increases value. “If you were to list your home, the first thing a realtor would put in the description would be ‘new roof,’” Bigos said.That said, “Cost does not equate with value.”In other words, what one pays for improvements does not equal the property value increase. It is usually less.“For instance, you may put $75,000 into an outdoor pool,” Bigos said, “but I may only assess it at $20,000 because you can’t use it for most of the year.”
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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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