Revolution's Last Stand: Calico Rebellion and the Catskills Anti-Rent War

In 1845, a feudal land system that had survived the American Revolution finally met its match in the hills above Andes, New York — and the clash left a county undersheriff dead and hundreds of farmers under arrest. The Anti-Rent War was a massive, organized uprising that had been building since the late 1830s and swept across upstate New York — yet it remains largely unknown outside this region.

Victoria Kupchinetsky and Misha Gutkin are Russian-born journalists who stumbled upon the story at an Andes community day parade — and couldn't let it go. The result is Calico Rebellion, a documentary that centers the voices of local descendants, historians, and storytellers to bring this "final chapter of the American Revolution" back to life.

We talk about the patroon system and its perpetual leases that kept tenant farmers from ever owning the land they cleared; the Calico Indians, disguised farmers who donned homemade masks and calico dresses to resist rent collectors; the dinner horns repurposed as an alarm network; and the fatal confrontation on Dingle Hill that set off a chain of trials, pardons, and ultimately, legislative reform.

Victoria and Misha also reflect on what it meant — as immigrants from the Soviet Union — to dig into this forgotten corner of American democracy, and what the Anti-Rent War says about the ongoing work of keeping a democratic system alive.

Visit calicorebellion.com for Calico Rebellion screenings, events, and info.