Board and Staff

 
 

Thea Burgess • President

Stories resonate with me as does an understanding of how people connect to the places where they live and make their lives. Historic Red Hook has both and more. I grew up in Wells Bridge, New York, in Otsego County, and the names of places around me there—Susquehanna, Unadilla, Otego, Oneonta—pointed to the history of the indigenous people on whose lands we lived. I was cognizant of that and of the links to the past via the names of streams and roads and hills and mountains, usually christened by or for the people who had settled there at some point. I majored in writing at Houghton College and worked as a weekly newspaper reporter…Read More.

Amanda Bodian • Vice President

My connection to Red Hook began when I became a weekender in Milan 40 years ago and then a full timer 17 years ago. Professionally, I worked for many years in retailing in New York City, followed by having my own business selling promotional merchandise. Now, I oversee the Red Hook-Rhinebeck tourist map and manage a couple of rental properties. I am also a member of Red Hook’s Economic Development Committee. I became involved with Historic Red Hook when Claudine and Chris Klose told me about the organization and invited me to become involved. History has resonated with me from my early years. Read More.

Pieter Estersohn • Second Vice President

I moved to Red Hook in 2010 after looking at over 100 homes in the extended area. I wanted a counterpoint to bringing my son up as a single father in Manhattan and felt that Red Hook offered all of the qualities I was looking for. After having all of the realtors accuse me of not being serious, I fell upon our home, which was built in 1839, the year photography was invented in both France and England, and it was on a street that shared a name with my dad.  I am a photographer and author, having worked on sixty or so books on architecture, design, and travel. The present book, due out in April 2024, is called Back to the Land, A New Way of Life in the Country… Read More.

Jim Haskin • Treasurer

After receiving an engineering degree from the University of Rochester, a job at IBM brought me to the Hudson Valley. After a few years I went back to school and got an Art degree from New Paltz. That led to spending the next 25 years running a small manufacturing business and Arts Center in Kingston (R&F Paints). I moved to Red Hook from Stone Ridge in 2010 for my wife's work and for the school system. Within Red Hook, I am also connected to Red Hook Repair Café, Red Hook Responds, and (when our son Harry was younger) the Red Hook Soccer Club. I became interested in Red Hook’s history after… Read More.

Beth Goldberg • Secretary

Although I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, I have a strong connection to Red Hook. I have been a resident of the Red Hook community for 20 years. My husband, Steven Appenzeller, and I moved here when our children, who are now adults, were four years old. They received a wonderful education attending Red Hook schools. Initially I was interested in a business career. After attending business school at MIT, I joined Chemical Bank in New York City. Over my 20-year career, the bank merged several times. By the time I left the institution, it had been renamed JP Morgan Chase… Read More.

Kristin Luks

I grew up in rural New Hampshire where my deep-seated love of old homes and all things historic bloomed from an early age.  I played in my grandmother’s cavernous Victorian house every summer and attended years of art classes in a beautiful Second Empire mansion run by the Currier Gallery of Art.  This early exposure to old homes and their charms, mysteries, and quirks has made me who I am today! I moved to New York City in 1999 to study architecture at Pratt Institute where I obtained my Bachelor of Architecture degree.  During this time, I was able to study abroad in Rome…Read More.

Deb Pavlich

I have had a passion for history since childhood. I remember going on weekly Sunday drives with my family, and while everyone else was looking at shops and local activities, I was looking at the old buildings we were passing wondering what life was like way back then. I discovered early on that reading history from textbooks was not enough - I wanted to know more. To help fill that void, my dad would patiently bring me again and again to Richmondtown and the Conference House, two historic sites near home. While I enjoyed visiting those old buildings I still needed to know more. I wanted to know what life was really like behind those closed doors so long ago… Read More.

Brent Kovalchik

I was born and raised in a small town in Ohio just 25 miles south of Cleveland. My commitment to community began there. It seemed be in the family DNA. I spent my youth exploring interests in music, tennis and architecture. The architecture won out with my time at Kent State University getting a BArch degree. My time at Kent was just 5 years after the riots and deaths of the students. Graduating on the 10th anniversary of the shootings which had taken place in the parking lot right outside of the building housing the Architecture Department. This time in Kent was a time of great growth for me…Read More.

Elisabeth Tatum • Executive Director

I moved to Red Hook in 2019 with the intention of making this town my forever home! After beginning my journey with Historic Red Hook as a social media coordinator, the board invited me to become HRH’s first official staff member in 2021 by offering me the position of part-time executive director. I’ve been interested in history for as long as I can remember. However, studying American History has been a relatively new development for me: I initially intended to be a medievalist! In 2016, I graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont with a History and English double major and a Theater minor. Read More.