page_title: Sharon Springs, New York
section_title: Sharon Springs rebirth
hierarchical_section_title: Sharon Springs, New York / Sharon Springs rebirth
caption_attribution_description: English: Image originally published in Queer Places: Retracing the Steps of LGBTQ people around the World Authored by Elisa Rolle
context_page_description: Sharon Springs is a village in Schoharie County, New York, United States. The population was 558 at the 2010 census. Its name derives from the hometown of the first Colonial settlers, Sharon, Connecticut, and the important springs in the village. Sharon Springs, Kansas likewise was settled by former residents of this Upstate New York village.
  The Village of Sharon Springs sits in the northwest part of Schoharie County in the Town of Sharon, New York approximately 50 miles west of Albany, the state capital. Surrounded by rolling hills and nestled in a winding valley, the tidy village is near some of New York State's most popular attractions. Howe Caverns is 15 miles to the south while The Mohawk River and Erie Canal are 10 miles to the north. The Adirondack Park is further north, about an hour away. Cooperstown, New York, home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, The Farmer's Museum and The Fenimore Art Museum, is 22 miles to the west and the Catskill Park is 50 miles to the south.
context_section_description: Sharon Springs, after drifting into a rundown state by the late 1980s, has enjoyed a resurgence in the last 15 years. Much of this has been attributed to both a stabilization of the remaining historic structures (arson leveled many of the abandoned hotels) and an infusion of ambitious buyers from outside the area looking for an affordable community to start a business or to add rural weekends to their city life. The New York Times cites the revival to "the uninterruped supply of affluent, educated second-homers from New York City (3.5 hours away) and Columbia County (2 hours away)... and the exponential growth of a new travel phenomenon, heritage tourism: the quest for things historic by well-heeled tourists." Low real estate prices, early renovations and successful start-ups, positive press including back to back 'Escapes' New York Times articles in 2000, and then post-911 flight from New York City all contributed to an influx of entrepreneurs, artisans and artists.
  The restoration of The American Hotel on Main Street was among the first completed projects in Sharon Springs' rebirth. Purchased as a collapsing, abandoned structure in 1996, buyers Doug Plummer and Garth Roberts refurbished the three-story Greek Revival (c. 1847) into a functioning hotel with a full-service restaurant. Prior to The American Hotel, the former residents of New York City operated a bakery for two years, The Rockville Cafe, renting the space from Robert and Kathleen Lehnert who began renovating the dilapidated property they purchased in 1986. Plummer and Roberts also restored their home on Pavilion Avenue as well as two former Hasidim guest houses across Main Street from the American.
  Renovated in 2005, one of the guest houses is now home to a specialty shop called Graham Goods, a dried floral shop called Sharon Sprigs, and McGillicuddy's Soaps, for homemade soaps and grooming products.
  Debbie McGillicuddy has perfected her soapmaking craft and has helped Beekman 1802 Mercantile, another village business, gain traction with their lifestyle brand through their first marketed product, homemade goat milk soap. The other former guest house across from the American is home to the Black Cat Cafe & Bakery, which also offers cooking classes and cookbooks.
  Directly across from the American Hotel resides the Klinkhart Building which formerly housed a 300-seat theatre.  There are current plans to renovate the building and develop a center for the Arts.
  One of the grandest structures in the village's Spa heyday is "The Roseboro". Dennis Giacomo, former owner of the Roseboro, and Dawne Belloise, a former president of the Sharon Historical Society, saved the 150-room Roseboro from demolition and began a massive restoration. While never completing the restoration, the Roseboro Hotel did afford shop space and since 2000, operated as a functioning restaurant, banquet and retail space. By 2014, its doors were closed and it was for sale again. It was bought in 2014 by Iowa and California transplant Ron Ketelsen. It now houses an antique shop and a Victorian tea room called Miss Lodema's Tea Room.  Future plans include guest rooms, dining and several floors of shops, and a museum.
  A major economic engine in the village is Beekman 1802. A lifestyle brand, Beekman 1802, was founded in Sharon Springs in 2008 by Dr. Brent Ridge and author Josh Kilmer-Purcell. The business, which markets artisanal beauty, food, and decor products, has been featured in multiple publications and on The Martha Stewart Show. A Planet Green cable network reality television series, "The Fabulous Beekman Boys," followed the couple and efforts to build a rural business in 2010 and 2011. The show is notable for its cameo appearances by Martha Stewart, Rosie O'Donnell and other celebrities.
  The 177 structures in the village appear on the National Register of Historic Places as a mineral resort. The village also won a grant from the New York State Council for the Humanities to establish a self-guided walking tour through Sharon Springs in 1997. Today, one can walk this tour by following the plaq
caption: Klinkhart Building
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