Saugerties, New York
Me. A mask. A converted barn.
Saugerties, April 2022. Me in a lit doorway at the far end of a dark barn. What a converted barn means in the Hudson Valley, and where New York stood on masks that spring.
- Where
- A converted barn in Saugerties, Ulster County, New YorkA client's private property, so only the town is given.
- When
- Probably 5 April 2022The date on the shoot's files, so probably the day before it was posted. Posted 6 April 2022.
- Posted
- 6 April 2022
- View the post
Me. A mask. A converted barn.
A converted barn
Saugerties is a town in Ulster County, on the west bank of the Hudson River, and part of it lies inside Catskill Park. Dutch settlers were running a sawmill on the Sawyer's Kill by the 1650s, and farming and milling grew up along Esopus Creek after them.
Farm country leaves barns behind, and some of the old ones now sit mostly unused. In 2021 the Ulster County paper Hudson Valley One reported that owners are put off by paying property tax on barns they barely use, and the Preservation League of New York State blames "benign neglect" for the ones that are lost. The state wants them kept. New York offers a 25 per cent tax credit for restoring barns built before 1945, whether the barn goes back to farm work or becomes something new, such as an event space. The League's president calls them "a tangible link to our state's agricultural past."
This one has become living space, with a kitchen counter on the right and a bedroom at the far end. A heavy timber post still stands in the middle of it.
Masks in April 2022
By April 2022, wearing a mask in New York was mostly a choice. The statewide rule that indoor businesses require either masks or proof of vaccination ended on 10 February 2022, though a business or county could keep it. After that, masks were still required on public transport and in places like hospitals and nursing homes. The state's school mask rule ended on 2 March, and from then each district decided for itself.
Sources
- Saugerties, New York, Wikipedia: a town in Ulster County on the west bank of the Hudson, partly inside Catskill Park; the 1650s sawmill on the Sawyer's Kill; farming and milling along Esopus Creek.
- HV1 Staff, A boost for beloved barns, Hudson Valley One, 12 December 2021: property tax on little-used barns, "benign neglect", the 25 per cent credit for barns built before 1945, and the Preservation League president's quote.
- Governor Signs Bill by Senator Hinchey and Assemblymember Barrett to Resurrect the Historic Barn Rehabilitation Tax Credit, New York State Senate, 2021: the credit covers barns returned to farm use or converted to small businesses such as event spaces.
- Governor Hochul Announces Winter Toolkit for New Phase of COVID Response, Office of the Governor of New York, 9 February 2022: the indoor business mask-or-vaccine rule lifted from 10 February, with masks still required on transit and in health care, nursing homes and shelters.
- Adam Penale, Hochul announces lifting of school mask mandate, effective March 2, Spectrum News, 27 February 2022: the school mask rule ended on 2 March 2022, with districts setting their own policies.