Meet the Detective

At Trail’s End Farm, my ancestral home in the hills of Milan, I listened and leaned in closely as Aunt Bess made my 19th century ancestors come alive. She would sit perched on the chair with her feet tucked beneath her. Hearing a clap of thunder or seeing a snake heading to the porch would be the signal for Aunt Bess to slowly sip a glass of sherry. Exciting tales about surviving storms and snakes gradually turned to the topic of Madame Anna Bishop’s survival after experiencing shipwreck at Wake Island and encountering bandits in the hills of Mexico. It was years later when I researched Madame Anna Bishop and discovered that the soprano had a more astounding life than even Aunt Bess could imagine! Today, the spirit and curiosity remain as I raise awareness of Dutchess County history through community fundraising, research, writing, and presentations.

Community

• Crum Elbow Meeting House and Cemetery Association, Trustee and Historian
  • History Video
  • Event: 3 speakers: W. Eugene Smith, photojournalist
  • Event: September 2026 Reenactor of Lizzie DeGarmo, abolitionist
• Rock City Cemetery Association, Trustee
  • Marking the Moment, creator of website
• Milan NY History, Writer, Researcher, Digital Archivist
  • Burton Coon Blog
  • REV 250 brochure
• Rhinebeck Historical Society, Writer, Researcher, Presenter
  • Creator of “From the Archives” since 3/2024 for Starr Library website
  • Event 2/2024: James Marshall DeGarmo
  • Newsletter Article: Summer 2023 8 Miles to Rhinebeck
  • Event 11/2022: Dorothy Knapp
  • Newsletter Article 5/2022: Passages Madame Anna Bishop & Martin Schultz
  • Event 3/2022: A Historic Trip Up the Hudson
• Historic Red Hook, fundraiser
  • Madame Anna Bishop gravestone, 2022 – 9/2025 when stone placed
• Clinton Historical Society, Presenter
  • Event: Uncle Peter & Aunt Sarah DeGarmo’s Farm: A Safe Station on the Underground Railroad
• Clinton Community Library, Presenter
  • Event: Passages: Madame Anna Bishop & Martin Schultz

Books

• Set at Trail’s End Farm in Milan, Dutchess County, NY, my book Stone By Stone: Building a Farm and a Family includes highlights of farm life and community in Shookville and Milan dating back to the mid 1850s. From the building of the family farm and the beginnings of the Shookville Church through three generations of the Coon family who made a living on the farm, a legacy in words, written and spoken, was created for family and community and is now known as the Trail’s End Collection.

• At his Trail’s End Farm desk, Burton Coon, unofficial local historian and lifelong resident farmer, wrote newspaper articles, many in the 1920s, for The Rhinebeck Gazette and the Red Hook Journal. My book, Memories of Ol’ Red Hook From the Burton Coon Collection was first shared on June 8, 2019, on the Elmendorph Green, at History Happening, a presentation by Historic Red Hook.

Education

• MALS Library & Information Science, PennWest University, PA, graduated 12/2025
• MA Liberal Studies: History and Literature, Wesleyan University, CT
• BA Intercultural Studies, Bard at Simon’s Rock, MA