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Millay's Steepletop could be closed
Andrew R. Chow is reporting for The New York Times Steepletop, poet Edna St. Vincent Millay's farmhouse in Austerlitz, is in danger of being closed. The Millay Society has started a fundraising campaign, but says the historic site will close in November unless $1 million is raised. “The cost of operating the site, even with a small staff and an extremely tight budget, exceeds the money brought in each year from donations and visitor fees,” Vincent Elizabeth Barnett, the president of the organization’s board of trustees, wrote in a statement. Millay and her husband bought the property in 1925, when it was still a blueberry farm, lived there until her death in 1950, and is buried on the grounds. The site was named a National Historic Landmark in 1971. It later became home to the Millay Colony of the Arts, which offers residencies and workshops. The Millay Society said that $1 million would allow the house to remain open for three to five years. The society hopes either to start an endowment or combine operations with another organization to stay open beyond that five-year period. Read the full story in The New York Times.