September 28th, 2023
A: Maria, how’d you come to live in our community?
M: I moved up here to work with farmers. I wanted to create a roadside attraction that would be a spectacular thing that would draw people to local farms. And so I made a partnership with a local farm, and I did that, and I lived in Accord. And I love it up here, but I lived right across from the firehouse, and the siren was awful. So I looked for a new place, and I found a place in Bruceville in Rosendale, and it’s lovely. I can hear the creek from my porch, and I love this area. And Rosendale has lots of artists and lots of quirky people. And the food is good, and that’s why I’m here.
A: Where would you take a friend or a relative so they could experience our community?
M: Well, the Rail Trail Cafe would be top of the list. That is an unusual, wonderful place. It’s a farmer who runs it, a musician who books the music. It’s right in the middle of the woods. You can get there on a bicycle or you can walk. It’s just quirky and weird and amazing. And then on the walk there, it’s wonderful. You walk on Joppenbergh Mountain, you can hunt some mushrooms, you can go to the cold spot and go see your breath in the middle of summer. I mean, it’s just a magical place. So that’s where I take people. Oh, and then of course crossing the trestle.
A: Tell us something about our community, something that happened to you, or something that happened to you regularly that reflects what is great or what you love about this community, about Rosendale.
M: You know, I really love when I go shopping at the local food co-op, and I always run into somebody I know. There’s something that’s just so reassuring about that. You know, they talk about how thin connections with people are really important, and it made me realize there’s nobody who loves you like people who don’t know you very well. -you know them slightly, you see them every day, you develop these like fondnesses and you’re friendly. Can’t beat it!
A: What would you miss in our community if it wasn’t here and why?
M: So many things. I think that there needs to be more people that have a more direct influence on the local government. And it scares me that people are losing that. So I would really miss that if, if, if our local government really kind of marched off and, you know, didn’t have much to do with us and somehow was taken over, gerrymandered the way it is nationally. That would be bad.
A: What about our community is important to continue into the future? What would you change if you could? What is important to continue and what would you change?
M: I want more young people here. I want lots of young people because, you know, they’re great. So affordable housing we really, really need. And I think if we can have affordable housing and we have jobs, that all the rest will follow. So that’s the hard nut that is, we have to crack, you know, and the odds are against us. But that’s what I would like to see.
And also I’d like to see more fun off the cuff stuff happening in the arts. I think that, you know, that’s our strong point here is the arts. I mean, there are more artists per capita in Ulster County than anywhere in New York state. It’s really an untapped resource.
A: Great. Thank you.
M: You’re welcome.
A: Do you have anything else you’d like to add?
M: Nope!
Edited by M. Reidelbach
