Milan

Milan is a 36 square mile town in Dutchess County, NY comprised of sprawling farmland, red barns and mid to large scale old and newer homesteads many of which have ample parcels of land. It is almost painfully quiet here with no real local businesses to speak of and the closest Metro North train station to Manhattan is in Poughkeepsie which is nineteen miles away. This is a place for those who truly want to live a peaceful and rural life.

Milan has one restaurant within Jenny’s Country Manor Lodge. It is aptly named Jenny’s BBQ and it has received some rave reviews for its outstanding cornbread, hush puppies, jalapeno poppers, pork spare ribs, pulled pork, smoked Italian sausage and BBQ chicken.

The other closest restaurants of note and worth are in nearby Rhinebeck and Red Hook, NY, both of which are anywhere between 2.5 and 7 miles away. In Rhinebeck you will find Foster’s Coach House Tavern, Modern Taco, Wild Hive Farm Café & Bakery, Momiji Sushi Steakhouse & Bar, China Rose, Fransesca’s Restaurant & Pizzeria, Pete’s Famous Restaurant, Calico Restaurant & Patisserie, Gigi Trattoria, Arielle, Gaby’s Café, Terrapin Restaurant, Bistro & Bar, Tavola Rustica, Oliver Kita Chocolates, Bread Alone, Tavern at the Beekman Arms, Grand Cru Cheese and Beer Market, C.J.’s Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria and Osaka Japanese Restaurant.

In Red Hook, you will discover Mercato Osteria and Enoteca which is an adorable café, pasta shop and wine bar with a Butoni brand family member running the joint, Max’s Memphis BBQ which serves scintillating hickory-smoked meats, the casual but sophisticated Flatiron Restaurant with its luscious oysters, interesting burger choices (one is made of duck) and five varied steak selections, the Historic Village Diner which is actually a dining car made in the 1920’s, An Apple a Day Diner, Red Hook Curry House, Salvatore’s Original Pizza, Hana Sushi, a Dunkin Donuts and a Subway. Another great Red Hook hang out is Taste Budd’s Chocolate and Coffee Café with its alternative foods, delectable baked goods, superior confections as well as rotating art exhibitions and live music.

If you want to shop and you want your drive to count, I suggest heading over to Rhinebeck which has Antiques Fair, Asher House Antiques, Warren Kitchen & Cutlery, Hudson Valley Blooms, Northern Dutchess Pharmacy, Cabin Fever Outfitters, Hummingbird Jewelers, Montgomery Row, SugarPlum Boutique, Workers and Dreamers, Winter Sun and Summer Moon, Darryl’s, EB’s Hudson Valley Finds, Pet Country, Haldora, Floral Fantasies by Sara, Paper Trail, Rhinebeck Artist’s Shop, Chamonix Bride, Wing and Clover, Country Comfort Furniture, Hammertown, Wonderland Florist, Hudson Valley Footwear, Verizon Wireless, A.L. Stickle Variety Store, Oblong Books and Music, Merriweather’s, Madison’s Avenue and The Pottery Shack.

For more practical every day shopping, the closest outlet would be the Hudson Valley Mall in Kingston, NY which is 10 miles away. They have all the major retail stores as well as a multiplex cinema.

For your grocery shopping needs, you can hit up the Hannaford Supermarket & Pharmacy in Red Hook (4.9 miles away) or the Super Stop and Shop in Rhinebeck which is 5.6 miles away. There are also a number of liquor stores in Rhinebeck and Red Hook.

Milan does have a Memorial Day Parade at Wilcox Town Hall. They occasionally hold a rescue squad pancake breakfast. They also have a senior social club which meets on the first Tuesday of each month.

Milan Rec Park has a softball field, a children’s play area and a trailway. Also in the area are Wilcox Memorial Park, Roeliff Jansen Kill Multiple Use Area and the Lafayetteville Multiple Use Area.

Milan students are divided up, depending on where in Milan they live, into the Red Hook School District, the Pine Plains School District and the Rhinebeck School District.

Milan is quite safe and the crime rate is relatively low.

The median household income is around $54, 491

Milan is pretty sparsely populated at about 2,453.

Milan (pronounced My-lin, not like the Italian city) may be another one of those underpopulated towns in the northern part of Dutchess County, but this one actually has less people and civilization than most of the rest when compared to Red Hook, Pine Plains, and Millerton, amongst others. Believe me, while it's a peaceful town and I'm sure many residents have good things to say about it, it can in no way be confused with the aforementioned cultural center of Italy which shares a common spelling.

The town's center, if there truly is one, is located off of the Taconic State Parkway and its main road passing through is New York Route 199, the highway which connects most towns in the northern part of the county and links it with the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge. There will be some cars coming through, but it's not the kind of place that has a large enough population to generate a great deal of traffic, nor is it one to get slammed with tourists very often. There is a summer camp here, but even at that, it's not much of a bother.

Every now and then in passing through on 199, you'll see a local business (and you may even hear an ad or two for some of them on radio stations in the area). There are not many, however, though a few are restaurants. What you'll spot on the journey will probably look something like this: house, house, nothing, nothing, house, local business, extended period of nothing, houses, nothing, etc. That's not to say it's completely and totally abandoned, but this is the type of town where you won't find much of anything. As such, you can expect that the nightlife doesn't exist.

Shopping doesn't, either, and you're a LONG way from a mall. You're not even close to a supermarket, for that matter. You can also forget about finding medical facilities or fitness centers here, amongst other things. There are a few parks and some nice scenery, and you're definitely closer to better parks like Lake Taghkanic up to the north, but if you crave modern conveniences nearby, then the isolation of Milan will not suit your style at all.

If you couldn't guess, there is no public transportation available in town, either, whether it's by bus or train. This is a place where it's crucial that you have a car. Given its distance, I would have to imagine that commuting to New York City from here would be a major undertaking.

Peace and quiet is definitely on the menu in Milan. If that's not for you, then neither will this town be.

I check out Milan when I first looked into moving to Dutchess County. The home prices were pretty good, but there weren't a lot of options, and I found many of the places to be in need of some work. I can't say I was overly impressed by Milan. It's not a horrible place, but there isn't a whole lot to do. I was looking for a bit of peace and quiet, but this is just too much.

Milan is mostly farms, with few real parks with amenities for children, and while some of the homes are on large plots of land, that land is meant to produce something. Not what I had in mind.

Milan has a fairly small population, and I think that's why there are so few restaurants and bars nearby. I think everyone who lives here either gets really good at home cooking, or they leave the town to find something to eat.

I know once upon a time Milan was a major throughway to Salisbury, CT, but those days seem to be long gone, and the town just hasn't recovered. I wish I could say better things. I don't have anything against Milan; it's just too slow for me.