by Danielle Fried

Dover Stone Church inspires awe.As a unique treasure to residents, a“biodiversity hotspot” to biologists andconservationists, and a rare habitat inour state, several groups have ensuredits status as a preserved property.

As part of Dutchess CountyWatershed Awareness Month, theTown of Dover’s ConservationAdvisory Council will host a CoolRavine Hike at the site in Dover Plainson Saturday, July 21, at 9:30 a.m.

Stancy DuHamel, chair of theConservation Advisory Council, willhost the walk, which will take guestsinto the “stone church” cave andthrough the property’s cool ravine. The caveand cool ravine are highlights of the 58-acrehemlock-northern hardwood forest.

According to Becky Thornton of DutchessLand Conservancy, (DLC), the name “stonechurch” has a double meaning. A stone churchis a rock formation that exists in other naturalplaces. “It’s not unique to this property; it justhas one,” she said.

The Dover Stone Church happens to be“cathedral-like” in size and shape. A streamruns through the cave.

“It’s this tall cavern that light comes inthrough. The light that comes through therereflects off the inside of the cave,” saidDuHamel. “The light hits the water. It’s shim-mering and reflective. It’s lively and inspiring.You’re just sort of filled with wonder at thenatural beauty of it.”

The stream that runs into the cave alsoflows through the cool ravine, which is said tobe 15 degrees cooler than its surroundings.Gretchen Stevens, Director of Hudsonia’s

Biodiversity Resources Center, said, “Coolravines are a very uncommon habitat in theregion. There are many ravines, but a coolravine is very unusual.”

“It’s a very deep, steep-sided ravine, verynarrow, with rocky walls. The depth, the nar-rowness, the rockiness all contribute to thecool temperatures. It creates this kind of habi-tat that you would find at much higher eleva-tions,” she said.

Stevens said not only does a rare habitatsupport rare species of plants and animals, coolravines in particular may become increasinglyimportant as our planet warms.

“One thing we’re very concerned about ishow plants and animals will respond to climatechange. We do think that these cool habitatswill act as a refuge...in the next few decades,”she said.

In 2004, the Town of Dover worked withDLC and Friends of Dover Stone Church toacquire Dover Stone Church. The Town owns

Next performance July 25 at Staatsburgh

State Historic Siteby Danielle Fried

Keeping the music of the 1900s alive,raising thousands of dollars for charity andhaving a great time along the way is thethree-fold mission of The Riverbank BanjoBand. The band will play at the StaatsburgState Historic Site on July 25, at 7 p.m., aspart of Hyde Park’s Music in the Parks freelawn concert series.

The band consists of 27 active members,ranging in age from 40 to (almost) 90, all ofwhom are volunteers. An average concertfeatures around 15 members, most playingbanjos, but others playing the spoons, man-dolin, washboard, piano and accordion.The band plays at locations in DutchessCounty and beyond, and also plays privateparties. Every Monday night, the members

NORTHERN

DUTCHESS NEWS

Jill Flanigan and Fred Laing play tenor banjos with the Riverbank Banjo Band. Photo courtesy ofDanielle Sundberg

Volume 4, Issue 13 • July 18-24, 2012 • 50¢

A division of The Southern Dutchess News ~ Entirely produced and printed in Dutchess County since 1959 ~ www.sdutchessnews.com

& Creative Living

Vertical gardening grows to new heights ... page 13Red Hook Community Heritage Day photos ... page 6 ‘The Power of Duff’ opens at Powerhouse ... page 9

Lively times, tunes flow with banjo bandcontinued on page 3

A group of hikers gathers at the entrance to the Dover StoneChurch. The cave and cool ravine are highlights of the 58-acrehemlock-northern hardwood forest. Photo courtesy of JayErickson

Community Calendar 7Creative Living 9-20

Movie 10Love to Cook 11Theater Review 12Get Growing! 13Exhibitions 16Nightlife 17Horoscopes 18Crossword Puzzle 18Sudoku 18A&E Calendar 19

Obituaries 23Public Notices 24Classifieds 25-27

INDEX

Cool Ravine Hike to explore beauty of Dover Stone Church

Light shines through a tall cavern inthis view from inside the DoverStone Church. It will be the site of aCool Ravine Hike on Saturday, July21, as part of Dutchess CountyWatershed Awareness Month. Photocourtesy of Jay Erickson

perform at Umberto’s of Mamma Marisaon South Road in Poughkeepsie, from 7 to9 p.m.

Danielle Sundberg, the band’s pianoplayer for 26 years and current president of

the band’s board of directors, described theband’s music.

“Rather than a genre, we’re more of atime period. Most of our tunes are from the

continued on page 5