Bang-all!
By Frances Sandiford

For years most Dutchess county residents knew the town of Stanford’s hamlet of Bangall best on account of a gruesome, unsolved crime that took place there on a Thanksgiving day in the mid-1920s. The Germond family, parents and two children, were killed as they prepared to celebrate the holiday with relatives. The family had no apparent enemies, and the police were unable to come up with either a motive or a suspect. Today, eighty years later, people in Bangall are still awed by the Germond house. Gossip has it that “no one stays there very long”— and indeed it has been sold and resold many times.

Actually, Bangall’s real prominence from the early 1800s to the 1940s was as a railroad stop on the cross-county line. Local historian Dorothy Burdick says that the hamlet was once “a lively place” with stores, small businesses, and itinerant peddlers who “banged” their wares to call attention to themselves, a practice which may have been the origin of the hamlet’s quirky name. Bangall, Mrs. Burdick says, was a commercial railroad center for shipping goods.

All this is in the past. What is the appeal of Bangall today? Its scenic beauty for one thing: rolling hills, lush vegetation, which have been preserved here better than in many areas of Dutchess County. For this reason, as well as its proximity to New York City, Bangall has become a mecca for the rich and famous. Numerous celebrities have homes in the area, and use their resources to protects its rural character. There is a lone pizzeria on the outskirts of Bangall, but one will search in vain for a Dunkin’ Donuts or a McDonalds.

Then, just this season, one of Bangall’s central landmarks has re-opened for business. The Stage Stop restaurant, closed for two years, has been renovated by owners Dennis Harrigan and Donald Zimmerman.. Zimmerman had already renovated the former railroad stop (not a stage stop as the name would indicate) in 1989, and had run it as a popular restaurant and bar for twelve years, until he closed it for personal reasons. Now, with the incentive of Harrigan, owner of Copperfields on Route 44, he has re-opened it. The business will be operated by Harrigan and Zimmerman’s daughter, Karen Staats, Mrs. Staats, by coincidence, is the present owner of the Germond house. Does she have any apprehensions about living there? No, she says that she does not, except that she can’t explain the behavior of her two dogs. They are drawn to a spot on the dining room floor where they scratch incessantly. This is reputed to be the spot where the Germond daughter was murdered.

The Stage Stop gives its address as Cagney Way. James Cagney, the popular stage and screen actor from the 1930s, owned a small farm adjacent to the restaurant. One of the first of the rich and famous to have been attracted to Bangall, he was a familiar sight in the hamlet. Mrs. Staats describes him as “a far away fellow,” friendly and down to earth, but someone who could become mesmerized just by watching his farm animals. Photographs of Cagney cover the walls of the Stage Stop. The bar is from his home. A small stagecoach on the front porch is from one of his films. In keeping with the motif of a stage stop, other parts of the restaurant are decorated with paintings or other images of horses and collectibles that include carriage lamps and wagon seats.

With so much to look at, you might think food was incidental at the Stage Stop, but it isn’t. The restaurant, which can seat 210 people in three dining rooms, strives to be a first class all-American steakhouse. The menu features sea food, prime rib, and a sixteen-foot salad bar, with prices ranging from $10.95 to $24.95. (The Stage Stop is open for dinner, 4 to 10pm, Monday through Saturday, and also for dinner 1 to 10pm Sunday. It does not serve breakfast, lunch or brunch.) Customers need not be intimidated by the sign on the front door that reads “Proper Attire Required.” That, too, is a relic from a Cagney movie.

Across from the Stage Stop, in a taut red building, is the Bangall Country Store owned by Art and Cynthia DiMello. Although it has been mostly in continual operation for twenty-five years, it underwent an extensive renewal a year ago before it re-opened with a spiffy new look and an ever-changing inventory. The renovation was prompted, in part, by an oddball accident in which an out-of-control automobile crashed into the front entrance.

Art DiMello calls his store “the best-kept secret in Dutchess County.” A customer on a recent Sunday morning called the atmosphere “Like watching Brigadoon”—it is a place out of time. At one end of the store is a Kalamazoo woodburning stove, circa 1900. At the opposite end are handcrafted gifts, unusual greeting cards and stationery, handpainted furniture, and collectibles by Williray Studio, Lang & Wise, and Mary Engelbreit.

At the deli counter, Art and Cynthia prepare flame-broiled chicken tenderloins, 10 oz. burgers, gourmet vegetarian sandwiches, homemade cookies, scones, muffins, and especially three kinds of breads baked fresh daily. Soft music plays in the background as customers share the tables inside or, in favorable weather, outside on the terrace.

The building that houses the store was a former distribution center for grain during Bangall’s railroad heyday. Today the building still looks basically the same: plain and simple, belying the charm inside. To find that special ambiance, you should stop by sometime between 4am, when the baking begins, and 5pm, Thursday through Monday.

Across from the Country Store is Bullis Hall, another newly-renovated establishment in Bangall. This elongated, white pillared building dates from the nineteenth century and is currently operated as a quasi-hotel by Lauren Harwood and Addison Berkey. The name Bullis came from the Bullis family, residents who may, or may not, have built the Hall in 1832. In its former life, it served many functions, among others as a community center and a movie theater.

Berkey says that he renovated the Hall with the idea that it would be a getaway for his friends, but it has evolved into an elegant bed and breakfast, open to the public by reservation only. The suites and rooms inside the Hall do not have a particular style or period design but are simply luxurious in every way with high ceilings, paintings of landscapes, some by local artists, red walls, and gas-burning fireplaces. A pair of jade lions guard the fireplace in one room. At the rear of the building is an English-type garden, which is used as long as the weather permits. Rates for overnight stays are not posted.

With these renovated establishments, the hamlet of Bangall survives today with its unsolved multiple murder, movie memorabilia, chicken tenderloins, and jade lions. It appears to have moved into the twenty-first century with style.