There is something special about Little Falls, New York.  Whatever it is attracted my grandfather here when he left his small town in Italy (Patrica in the province of Frosinone about 40 miles south of Rome), hopped a ship, and at 16 years old decided he was going to come to America to pursue his dream.  He settled here during prohibition and exercised his entrepreneurial spirit as a bootlegger.  He was young, smart, and determined.  Folklore in my family is filled with stories of his guts and saavy, but it was his values and his vision that laid the foundation for our family.  And, the lasting presence of these values through the generations is a testament to the power of his character.  A desire to succeed and a natural inward ability to lead, were qualities that he built on as he grew up here.  When prohibition ended he was awarded a beer distributorship and the Mohawk Valley was his designated territory.  Not Boston, like the Kennedy’s territory, but a place that became him and he a big part of this place.  He gave this to me.  I believe my grandfather’s soul energizes me and fuels the vision within.

As the youngest of his surviving grandchildren, I have always felt deeply committed to this area, my family, and the other people here.  Although I worked in the family beer distributor before it was sold, ironically to the Plymouth, MA (outside of Boston) behemeth beer baron family by the name of Sheehan,  it was business and this area that seemed to be at the core of my dream, and on which I would begin to build the foundation of my own vision.  After graduating from Little Falls High School in 1980 it was off to Hamilton College to play football – the game that was my life and passion at the time.  Little did I know the impact my experience at Hamilton College would have on me and how often it would emerge as a key to the path that has led here.  Now that I am laser focused finally on the vision that is Overlook Ridge I reflect often and have come to realize the role my time at Hamilton College has played in the process.  More to follow…