Summit, New York, for UD readers not yet privy to every detail of UD‘s life, is the upstate town where Les UDs have a little summer house. The house sits high on a hill all by itself, on twenty acres, with views of dairy farms, forests, ponds, and mountains. The night sky – dark, vast, and full of Perseids (we’re there in August) – is spectacular.
After decades of summers in Summit, we have our traditions – an opera at Glimmerglass; afternoons in Cooperstown; country walks to visit personal landmarks, like the small observatory our friend and neighbor (before he moved back to Poland) Woytek Fangor built. And there’s my birthday dinner at the Bear Cafe in Woodstock…
Among the oddest places on our seasonal itinerary is Sharon Springs, a constantly shifting valley town — sometimes it’s a gay resort; sometimes it’s an artist’s colony; sometimes it’s an outdoor reading room for ultra-orthodox Jews, who sit on peeling porches all day and squint over what I take to be religious texts… Sometimes it’s on the upswing, sometimes on the down. It’s like a stage set. From summer to summer, you don’t know what Act and Scene you’re going to find.
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According to this, it’s gay again. These guys, who have a mansion and a farm near Sharon Springs, and who have their own reality show, call the place “the Provincetown of Schoharie County.”
We’ll be in Summit early in August.
June 10th, 2010 at 8:05AM
I have a friend from college who was raised in Sharon Springs. I don’t think it was quite Provincetown in the mid 90s!
June 10th, 2010 at 8:12AM
Right. More like Jerusalem.
June 10th, 2010 at 7:31PM
The Polish Peter family visited Sharon Springs for a few hours a couple of years ago as we drove on Route 20 through New York State. Fascinating place to wander around, grand old resorts that are shells and revived bed and breakfasts. The have a self-guided walking tour that explains the highlights.