Our Afternoon in Millbrook, NY Part 2

The village of Millbrook, NY is a very charming little village.  From their website www.millbrooknyonline.com,  

"Located in the scenic Hudson Valley, 1.5 hr drive upstate of New York City, Millbrook is home to horse farms, a quaint village life and some of the best antique shopping in the region."

The streets are filled with mainly locally owned businesses - even the bank, which has been there for over 100 years!  If you go into the bank you can still see the old fashioned vault, it's really cool.
 

The Millbrook Diner hasn't been around for 100 years, but it's still been around quite awhile!

 
The village has probably everything you could need - from Marona's - a locally owned supermarket (yes, they still exist!) to Vincent's Drug Store to D'Arcangelo & Co. Accountants - the village has probably everything you could need (although I must admit, I'm not sure this quiet, conservative little town has any sexy lingerie to be found, heh!).  It always has lots of great restaurants, though they often seem to change hands at an alarming pace - I think it's a popular place for chefs to try their hand at owning a restaurant.  Many times over the years my Dad and I have met here to have lunch just because we like to eat lunch in Millbrook.  In fact one of the very first times I took DD as a baby to a restaurant, was in Millbrook (I believe the restaurant we ate at was "Setaro's" which is of course, not there anymore).
 
Would you believe they even have a French Restaurant rated by Zagat as the #1 Best French Bistro in Dutchess and Westchester Counties?  I have had the immense pleasure of eating there with my Dad on a couple of occasions and it is truly wonderful.  As one of their desserts they have fresh-baked-warm-right-from-the-oven madelines with warm chocolate sauce.  It is the one dessert I've ever had that I would consider dying for, it's unbeleiveable.  My birthday is coming soon and I am hoping to have lunch there with my Dad to celebrate (HINT, HINT, DAD! :-).  It's on a side street - it's the one with the round yellow sign.

 
Now to explain how Millbrook came to be special to me.  Many years ago now, my first "real" job was in Millbrook, working for what was then "Taconic Newspapers", which was owned by Hamilton and Helen Meserve (good people to work for).  They published seven local, weekly papers.  I started at the paper as a "paste up artist" (a job that doesn't even exist any more in these "modern" times) but I advanced to ad design on the computer after a time.  I loved that job.  It was fun, it utilized my graphic design talents, there was always something interesting going on, and I worked with a great bunch of people.  On my lunch hour I could go for a walk in the village and grab some pizza or a sandwich at the Millbrook Deli, or just get some fresh air.  I worked there for about 3 years until I got married and left with my DH to live in Binghamton.  Ham and Helen eventually left and Taconic Newspapers was bought out by the Journal Register Company and the name changed to Taconic Press, but they continued to publish the 7 weeklies, one of which we recently subscribed to.  Until about a month ago, that is.  Due to the economic downturn, they shut down the papers.  Now the building that held so many memories for me, and for many, stands lonely and abandoned.
 

 

     

It was the job at Taconic Press that first brought me to Millbrook and introduced me to the village I know and love, so excuse me while I wax sentimental for a minute or two.  *sniff*

  

Anyway, the newspaper may be gone, but the village goes on, where I can make plenty of new, wonderful memories with my DD in the Tribute Gardens, and with my Dad over hopefully many more lunches.

  

The end.