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You pass them in the village and sit near them at the diner—but everyone in the Hudson Valley has a story that would surprise you. This is a podcast for getting to know your neighbors. We’re stripping away the surface level to find the human heart of our region, proving that even the person next door has a journey worth sharing. Discover your community all over again.
Catherine Mikic
The idea of placemaking is about creating opportunities for people to appreciate where they are because like I found, like, along the way, people think, “Copake–oh, it had its better days.” But there's, there's an essence that still is here and it still rings really true to me.
Jen Lee
This is Hudson Valley Storycatcher. I'm Jen Lee. Today I'm excited to introduce you to Catherine Mikic, a trained architect who gravitated toward historic preservation. And these days, Catherine identifies most as a placemaker and a cultural landscape advocate. If you're wondering what those things mean, you're in the right place. I knew as soon as I came across Catherine's work that I wanted to talk to her about all kinds of things, what it truly means to connect with the land, uncovering hidden histories and advocating for the spaces we live in and love.
Our conversation is a really inspiring look at how history, imagination, and collaboration can completely revive a community. Let's jump in.
What else should we know about you, Catherine?
Catherine Mikic
Well, I'm a trained architect from New York, state of New York, for decades. But as a young, young artist there, I was always involved in creating civic spaces like ad hoc guerilla civic spaces in New York City, including in Tompkins Square Park and in various sites around the city. And worked in architecture, but always kept this parallel interest in civic spaces and advocacy work, particularly about rebuilding community spaces.
That was always my focus, and I really, really loved working with old buildings and the old materials and structures. And the process is about negating yourself and letting the building reveal itself. So it's like it's an internal practice to do that kind of work. I really loved it. I came up here, up to this area. In 2018. I settled in Hudson, renovated my 1890 townhouse and during Covid, wanted another project and ended up taking on and purchasing a historic family farm and homestead on Center Hill Road, just outside of Copake Town Center.
It was a visceral attraction to the site. It was very, very powerful. The site is extraordinarily beautiful. Situated on a knoll overlooking rich farmland in the valleys and the mountains, like the gentle mountains and hills beyond. It really spoke to me, and I decided to take that on as my renovation project during Covid. And to my great, great surprise, got connected up with a lot of people who were familiar with history in this part and started doing research with them and discovered that this was, in fact, one of the oldest surviving farmhouses and family homesteads still surviving in this part of Columbia County.
As I immersed myself in the research of that site, someone suggested to me that this property was worthy of National Register designation.
People kind of drive by these farms, and they don't really, we don't know much in our society about rural landscapes, the rural farms, old farms.
But I, you know, I saw this property and I was like, I had so many questions. Why is this noble property in such disrepair? What happened? What is that history? And you see, you see so many along the road like that. So as I was pursuing, pursuing the National Register designation for that property, and I wrote, the entire nomination went really, really deep in that.
And rather than focusing on the architectural history per se and the building style in the materials per se, I took an unusual approach and took, approached it with an ethnographic eye, meaning that I was very interested in the ecological setting. I was interested in the social spaces, the political context of the time, the economic context of the time, and how did this particular family navigate those?
How did they express themselves through this property?
So that's kind of the viewpoint. And it opened up an entire world to me, and one that I was just so surprised to find. And I think as I started sharing my work, both with historians at the State Historic Preservation Office and with historians in town and people in town who were familiar with its history, it started to crack open another level of understanding what this town is about and what rural culture is about, and what this rural landscape still holds for all of us.
As I was working on the land and removing invasives and getting just really hands on and just maintaining that property, I started to have real visceral experiences on that land. And there was something deep, very, very deep on that land. And I could feel it. And you could just feel the spirits of the past and like, there was just so much energy and life there.
And shortly thereafter, I was invited to be part of the town's historic preservation committee, and I rose to the position of chair, like within the first year. And I started leading efforts to step back and take a new look at what Copake’s history was all about. And during that time, I actually uncovered a, a archeological report that was done, gosh, back in the 2000, uncovering archeological digs that had been occurring here in this area that date back to 7000 BC, documenting that this was one of the cultural centers for the Mohican, Indigenous Mohican people. So all of a sudden, it added this whole other dimension and this whole other layer, and it confirmed that there's something very, very deep that the land is still holding.
And I just felt that I was able to access that. I started sharing that story with some people early on. And the ones, people that have been here a long time are like, “Yeah, yeah, you get it too. I get that.” People that allow themselves to experience the land knows that it holds tremendous meaning for us both personal, spiritual, ecological–it's very, very deep.
Jen Lee
It's really interesting when you're talking about your work in New York City. Made me realize: Often when I'm thinking of architecture and design, I'm thinking of people bringing themselves and their ideas and being like, “I will erect a place. I will fill it with my creative vision or my aesthetic.” And when you're talking about working in historic sites where you're saying, no, I'm trying to let the building emerge, and not focused on myself and my personal vision.
But I'm listening to the building and it sounds also similar to now you're on this site and you're having this feeling of not just listening to the structure on it, but feeling like you're hearing from the land itself. And I think that it's surprising to think, oh, someone's from architecture and design in New York City and ends up in this rural place doing historic preservation and work with the land.
Catherine Mikic
The one thing that I realized is that the people that settle in this land are deeply connected to this land. They are only here for this land. It was a little bit groundbreaking to come forward with what turned out to be an 18 acre historic district nomination, because the property did grow from farmhouse to ice house to barns to secondary house to contributing landscapes.
And it did become a historic district nomination. And it exists today as a historic district. And it's just important for people to understand the really deep meaning that it brings culturally and historically, but also the visceral, personal experiences that we can all have on this land and the need that we must all undertake to steward these properties and steward these sites.
They just have a lot of, a lot of meaning.
Jen Lee
That makes sense, because I'm thinking of how for many people who don't live in this exact vicinity, their experience might just be driving through, driving near or around.
Catherine Mikic
Well, you know, there are few opportunities, I realized, for people to get out of their car and step onto that farmland. I took on the Sweet Sherman Homestead, secured the National Register nomination. I wanted the land to be kept as farmland. There was a local family. They own a flower farm in the area. They had approached a local real estate broker who was a friend of mine and said, “We're interested in that property and we want to make it a flower farm and preserve it as farmland.”
So I ended up selling that and that was always my vision. So they are in the process now, rehabilitating the farmhouse. The outbuildings are going to make flour processing there, and they're going to create a large flower farm in this very prominent stretch of Center Hill Road. So for me to have this new steward on the property, that really gets it and they really appreciate that– that was really the perfect end result for that project. So I'm just–
Jen Lee
That’s so gratifying!
Catherine Mikic
I was so gratified by that. That was really amazing.
Jen Lee
At the beginning, we shared about this idea of you identifying as a placemaker. And the more you're sharing about your work, I'm hearing that having a few layers. It's like there's this almost archeological, historical perspective that you're bringing. Then there's this idea of restoration and restoring things that have maybe fallen into decline. But then also you're bringing this idea of like then letting those things inform what's being envisioned.
Catherine Mikic
Yes!
Jen Lee
and dreamed of for what's next. So I want to hear more about–because I feel like you're doing that same approach and you've brought it to additional projects.
Catherine Mikic
The town has just been wonderful, and in 2024, I got involved in the bicentennial celebrations. I published a book on the history of Copake with some vintage postcards and again, tying this whole concept of land and earth being the originator of what this place is as a place. And the histories and the overlay of Indigenous and the settler people.
And it introduced that whole thread, that whole concept of landscape and history being connected to one, to the human story here. So, you know, as chair of the Historic Preservation Committee here in town, it's, you know, put me in a great, great position to have relationships with people here. And it's,I have to say: It's a fantastic town, extremely collaborative.
An opportunity arose that I saw a couple of years ago. There's a roadway infrastructure project that came into town, and it was going right through the middle of the hamlet of Copake (which is pretty much considered the town center for Copake) which is a rural, rural farming area. And what was once a social square really just became nothing more than a traffic circle.
And when this roadway reconstruction project came in, and they wanted to change some of the intersections and there were opportunities to maybe bring back what that town center was historically. I started having dialogs with some of the town officials and the town officials, you know, aren't trained to think creatively about what town centers could look like or what a roadway rehabilitation project could look like, but they were extremely receptive to the idea of: What if we were to get back closer to what that town center was in 1824?
Jen Lee
Like more of a heart of a community, instead of just a chaotic place people are trying to drive through?
Catherine Mikic
Exactly. With no identity, with no identity. What if we tried to reestablish and redefine that? So this opportunity for a new park arose in the town center, and there is a historic clock in the center of town, which will now become the focal point of this new park. And it's also on the National Register of Historic Places. And we are really on the way now to proactively and creatively learning from the past, drawing from many historic references and photos and narrative about what the town center was, and coming forward with a vision that works in the 21st century to accommodate vehicular traffic, but also to very firmly reestablish a town center for this town.
And I'm very hopeful about the impact that that will have on this town to create opportunities for people to gather and to meet one another informally, to sit around this beautiful clock and to honor the town's history and the memorials that are associated with that clock.
Jen Lee
So it's not every day that you get an opportunity to come in and be part of reimagining what the heart of a community could look like.
Catherine Mikic
Absolutely. And when I, when it was first proposed to the team who was heading up this roadway reconstruction project, they were like, “We're just doing roads. There's going to be a little grass over there, like, what are you talking about?” And I thought, “But look at these historic images. Wouldn't it be interesting if we could begin to get back to that?”
And it's, it's really just a failure of imagination or maybe just a failure of not having the information. But when you bring that kind of, the power of those images and those ideas to a group, people readily understand that. They, they get it.
Jen Lee
And one thing I'm curious to hear you just say a little bit more about is this idea of like, civic spaces and how you see a, a center of a hamlet like this, how you see that operating civically, how you see it connecting with democracy and being able to practice.
Catherine Mikic
Absolutely. We'll think about it now, you know, with the no no Kings rallies. Where do people gather? You gather in a town's green space, the civic greens, the town park. There's always, there is a center as a democracy. I've realized in recent months how important those civic squares are. Where will people rally here in Copake if they want to speak out against their town government or their state government or their federal government?
That square was obliterated. Let's bring it back. That's crucial for democracy, for us to have our squares back and for people to have that right to gather. So that's what I'm bringing back to, for democracy. I'd like to talk about the Shepherd's Run project.
Jen Lee
I'd like to hear about the Shepherd's Run project.
Catherine Mikic
Yeah. So the Shepherd's Run is a large-scale, major renewable energy project that has been proposed in the town of Copake since 2017. It is proposed by an out of town, Chicago-based developer, Hecate Energy. And the developer has proposed to install 220 acres of large scale solar panels plopped right down in the middle of a historic farming hamlet without regard to people's houses, without regard to local small businesses.
It's sitting on a New York State Department environmental conservation protected watershed that provides water, drinking water to the city of Hudson. But New York state policy allows them to disregard all of that. I started an organization, Arcadian Alliance.
It was a nonprofit advocacy group that I started with former Town Supervisor Jean Mettler, with the president of the Roseanne Historical Society, Leslie Doyle, and myself as chair of the town's Historic Preservation Committee.
And we began to advocate for protecting the site of the Shepherds Run solar farm, solar site by saying, Yeah, you're disrupting waterways, you're disrupting protected water lands, businesses, you're behind all these existing homes. And the site, too, is on the western gateway into Copake. And Copake is a really unique heritage site. We have eight National Register listed properties now.
In Craryviile alone, where this project is proposed, there are five additional National Register eligible properties. Copake is a quintessential representation of 19th century rural farm experience.
We have been growing our heritage tourism industry here. Farming and agritourism industry is growing here. Columbia County is one of the fastest growing tourism sectors in, or locations in all of New York State.
So it's a huge, it's a huge part of the local economy. And this developer and the state, the state as an enabler, allows them to come in, wipe out the integrity of this heritage tourism and recreation tourism center because they think their solar panels, and the energy that they're generating is more important than those old houses down the road.
Those don't matter. We just need to keep feeding more and more energy to New York City and to AI data centers, like that's what we need to do. That is not balance, and that's not democratic.
They’re just acting out a complete societal disregard, or a large societal disregard for what rural life is and what rural life and rural history and heritage contributes to larger society.
Jen Lee
Right, right. You've shared a lot about these, all these ways that you've been involved in the community and all of these projects that you've brought your passion to and had amazing results with. I'm also just curious, on a personal note, like, how has being engaged in this work and being in this place here–how has that changed you? What impact has it made on you?
Catherine Mikic
It's completely changed my life. I mean, I was in New York City for 40 years, went to school there, stayed there, had my career there, worked in urban architecture and it was really enjoyable. Coming here, you have to open up your heart to the work. You have to really be part of nature and understand. Stand there and figure out: What way are the breezes going? Which which way would I want to face?
Catherine Mikic
Where is the sun moving on this site? That's one thing. But then in the process itself, it's a lot of personal and community engagement. You know, I've been, I've been working with, inside of community, with town government, but also with other citizen groups to raise awareness about this and to share my experiences and to hear their experiences. And trying to create opportunities for people to maybe start to open their hearts and their bodies to an experience in nature like this.
Catherine Mikic
Because this is really an extraordinarily beautiful, and rich place. So the new town center in the park, that will be a civic gathering space at one level. It'll be a civic focal point at another level. it's also a place for people to pause and just look at the vistas, the mountains in the back, the hills to the west, and to just be in the land and to be in nature and to just pause and to try to take that in.
Catherine Mikic
The idea of placemaking is about creating opportunities for people to appreciate where they are. Because I found, like along the way, people think “Copake–oh, it had its better days.” But there's, there's an essence that still is here and it still rings really true to me.
Jen Lee
And I'm sure that's true of so many places.
Catherine Mikic
I think it is true. I mean, this is like a laboratory for something I'm working on. I'm working it out. I think with imagination, with will, and with sensitivity so many of these rural towns can be revived. I think that people from the city will come up and rather than just appreciating them as quaint landscapes, can really understand the real power that lies here, the power to understand further.
Catherine Mikic
How did the Indigenous people live here? I had no idea that there were Indigenous people here in 7000 BC. Who knows that? That's crazy. That's powerful. Why were they? They were here because the land, the water. And it binds, it binds humanity. Like it's why we're all here. We want these hills, the land. It's what binds us all.
Catherine Mikic
And so there's something really powerful in that continuity. But there's, it's also a physical power in the land. I do believe this is through my personal experience, not research based, but the land does hold that power. There is, the land is holding that, that memory. So that's kind of what I operate out of.
Jen Lee
Yeah, I'm kind of hearing a few layers in what you're saying. It's like I'm seeing you as somebody who moved to this region, so it's like you've got a physical relocation. But by doing this work I'm just seeing the way you've connected to the community, both relationally, by building all these relationships and partnerships. And then mentally, as you've done this research and you've done both like deep dives historically, but also this like mentally engaging advocacy work. You're having this visceral experience physically in the spaces that you're working toward, and all of it together just seems like it's, like your heart is like sending its roots down and really grounding in.
Like your whole self is so like, yeah, rooted into the community, which is really different than someone who's just like, moved into a house and lived there a few years. It's like your connectedness is like on all these different levels.
Catherine Mikic
Oh that's yeah, that's, that resonates with me. I think that that sounds right. And, yeah, I mean, I've just allowed myself to open up.
Jen Lee
And it feels like such an inspiration that that could be possible for other people in their own places to open up, to look around.
Catherine Mikic
Yeah, I would hope so. I would hope so. I think it's obviously been transformational for me, but it's really moving the needle in this town and, you know, reviving interest in history in the landscape. I'm just operating from my experience and my, a very deep, visceral conviction and a recognition of something so essential. And I'm not, I'm not sure if it's primal, but there's something like, you know, I live in my imagination.
I envision this town center. I see the Sweet Sherman Homestead. I see that as a function, that very vibrant, functioning social landscape. And so I see that in my mind. And I want other people to see that and experience that. It's all right there. We have sometimes we we, we've been untrained to see that. And I think that we can train ourselves to see that again.
And I'm hoping that the town park will serve as a really good example for this town, and maybe others in the area of recapturing some of these old civic spaces that kept communities together. They connected people and they were also, the squares were the foundation of our democracy. So it's all connected.
Jen Lee
So it's taking from being informed by the history of a place, taking that, meeting it with imagination, inspiration, possibility, and then it's going to result in a place that can be inhabited, whether it's by at the Sweet Sherman Homestead, by a flower farm, or the new square that will be inhabited by the residents of Copake.
Catherine Mikic
Yes.
Jen Lee
It's all very exciting, and I'm grateful that you're here in the Hudson Valley doing this work.
Catherine Mikic
I'm grateful that I'm here. This has been one of the biggest gifts of my life.
Jen Lee
It's worth devoting yourself to. That's what I'm hearing as you're–
Catherine Mikic
I am because it's, you know, it's giving me something very concrete, a concrete avenue to work through to make tangible differences in people's lives, but also the storytelling of a community. It's really important. I've seen it firsthand, and I see how powerful and important that is. It's important to me. It's impacted people. It impacts more people as the work grows.
So. So I just.
Jen Lee
Uncovering those stories and reviving the story of the place. Yeah. In addition to reviving the place itself. Yeah.
Catherine Mikic
Yeah.
Jen Lee
Yeah, it's really incredible.
Catherine Mikic
I appreciate your being interested in understanding what this work is about. And like I say, this is just a laboratory and I'm just kind of go with it, and put one foot, and trying to figure out where I'm led. And there just seems to be so much possibility. And I'm just really excited for these opportunities here.
Jen Lee
I'm excited too! We might have to check in with you later and see how the laboratory experiment is going and where you go from here. Sounds really good, because I have a feeling, too, that you're just on the beginning leg of this. No work that you're on.
Catherine Mikic
Yeah, it feels like my life's work.
Jen Lee
Yeah, a culmination, it really–
Catherine Mikic
Feels.
Jen Lee
Does feel like a culmination.
Catherine Mikic
It is a culmination. It's brought together a lot. Yes. Thank you.
Jen Lee
Well, thanks for taking the time to talk to me today.
Catherine Mikic
Thank you. Really appreciate it, Jen.
Jen Lee
Thanks for tuning into this episode of Hudson Valley Storycatcher. And a special thank you to Catherine for showing us the tangible difference that comes from opening our hearts to the spaces around us. If this conversation resonated with you, share it with a friend. You can also follow the show wherever you listen to podcasts as well as on YouTube, and you can support the show by leaving a five star rating and review in Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
Until next time, keep your heart open and your ears ready. Every neighbor has a story. I'm Jen Lee. Thank you for catching this story with me.