{"id":8886,"date":"2017-12-22T14:00:23","date_gmt":"2017-12-22T21:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/BigJimIndustries.com\/wordpress\/?p=8886"},"modified":"2017-12-25T14:04:54","modified_gmt":"2017-12-25T21:04:54","slug":"sharon-springs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/2017\/12\/22\/sharon-springs\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharon Springs"},"content":{"rendered":"

from Logo<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Sharon Springs, NY: The Gayest Little Town You\u2019ve Never Heard Of <\/span><\/h1>\n

“One of the greatest things, the thing that has saved Sharon Springs is the LGBT community.”<\/p>\n

by Bryan van Gorder<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I grew up in the rural, rolling farmland of Upstate New York. Occasionally\u2014often on the way to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown or nearby Glimmerglass Lake\u2014we would pass through Sharon Springs<\/a>, a town memorable solely for the distinctly pungent smell that emanated from its natural sulphur springs.It was because of these springs and their healing properties that Sharon Springs had grown into a popular summer spa destination in the 19th century, attracting thousands of visitors annually including members of the Vanderbilt family and Oscar Wilde, who lectured at one of its hotels in 1882. By the 1970s, though, Sharon Springs had fallen firmly into decline and seemed destined to become a footnote in Upstate New York\u2019s history.Twenty years later, however, the village would embark on a renaissance thanks to Doug Plummer and Garth Roberts, a couple who were passing through from New York City, located approximately 200 miles away.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband and I saw an old farmhouse outside the the village and thought, this is the coolest thing we\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d recalls Plummer, the mayor of Sharon Springs. And so they bought the house, as well as several other properties, including the then-rundown\u00a0historic American Hotel<\/a> that they rehabilitated and run today. Beyond that, the two men have been pivotal in attracting others to join in with their enthusiasm for the village of 550 people.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the greatest things, the thing that has saved Sharon Springs is the LGBT community, we are the ones who came in here and started to improve things,\u201d continues Plummer, as we sat together in the cozy lobby of his hotel. As if on cue, Lance and Anthony, another gay couple from NYC, appear. \u201cThese guys came in one Friday about six months ago, and on Sunday saw a realtor and, like, three days later they put an offer on a house.\u201d<\/p>\n

[ click to continue reading at Logo<\/a> ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

from Logo Sharon Springs, NY: The Gayest Little Town You\u2019ve Never Heard Of “One of the greatest things, the thing that has saved Sharon Springs is the LGBT community.” by Bryan van Gorder I grew up in the rural, rolling farmland of Upstate New York. Occasionally\u2014often on the way to the Baseball Hall of Fame […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture-art"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8886\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}