Many could not write or read English, but that did not stop them from assimilating in small-town America and applying their skills to help build some of the grand estates in Millbrook. The story of these Italian immigrants is the subject of a new documentary, "Il Villaggio di Millbrook” (“The Village of Millbrook”), which will premiere this weekend in Millbrook and Millerton.

Two years in the making, the film was gleaned from the stories of elders and shaped by Barbara Hanson Pierce, a longtime Dutchess County resident who wanted to explore Millbrook’s Italian roots. The film grew out of Millbrook’s "Museum in the Streets" project, she said, a bilingual, historical walking tour of the village that ran 2011-2014, of which Pierce was co-chairwoman.