Sharon Springs, New York

Saying goodbye to Massachusetts and heading up to our next destination.

We knew that one of the highlights in New York was going to visit Sharon Springs, prior to Cooperstown. Our goal was to see where The Beekman Boys live and work.

If you are a follower of the Amazing Race, then you likely know that Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge won a million dollars in December of 2012. While they were clearly the under dog team, they had a plan to win and never gave up. The win allowed them to continue their incredible careers not only as Gentlemen Goat Farmers with the help of Farmer John Hall, but they are also marketing geniuses.

These men were already successful in their fields; Josh as a NY Advertising Executive and Brent was a former physician and VP for Martha Stewart Living.

They have opened the Beekman1802 Mercantile store, which we visited and shopped in. They’ve had a syndicated cooking TV show, they’re also cookbook authors and Brent has written three books including the wildly popular, “The Bucolic Plague.” Written in 2010, Brent describes how this new life from the hustle and bustle of New York City to rural living in Sharon Springs began. I highly recommend it, as a non-reader in our book club, this is one I actually read and thoroughly enjoyed. I’m sure you will too.

We’re almost best friends…as you can see…from their book tour last year! I know what you’re thinking…if they actually knew me, staying sweet would have been replaced by “talk less, listen more”…oh well!

We actually visited Sharon Springs twice, once when we first arrived in New York and then again on our way to Vermont two days later.

Our first stop was to go down Main Street where it all started for the Beekman Boys at the American Hotel.

The trees continued to just warm my heart. I especially liked how the red leaves climbed up the trunk and branches.

Deciding what pictures to include in this blog are challenging because I have so many to choose from. I’m just inspired by the colors of fall whether in a tree, a cornucopia of pumpkins and squash or a simple flower pot of nasturtiums; all are so beautiful.

We enjoyed our time shopping in their cute stores. We figured we’d just come back the next day, but it became clear that wasn’t possible. So, on our way out of Cooperstown, we decided to see if we could see the Beekman Mansion. We had no idea where it was located, we took a chance and pulled into the parking lot of the local post office as there were a couple of ladies standing there having a conversation.

Turns out it was Maureen, one of the shop keepers that Shari had purchased a graceful glass orb from and was shipping it home for her.

After a welcoming hug like long lost friends, Maureen directed us to the location of the Mansion and farm. It’s nice to make friends along the way.

The village of Sharon Springs has a whopping population of 547 residents; hard for a city girl like me to imagine. But it sure is beautiful and peaceful. We just had to take a chance and see what we could see…This is how it started…

Just a disclaimer here, there was no place to stop and park and just act like total groupies, so Shari continued down the road a bit and turned around as Lee and I jumped out to take a few pictures.

Got a picture of their lab Onder, he was barking his head off which of course alerted, none other than Josh as he was walking on the property. He waved hello as I yelled out “Hi, Josh!” why not, it’s not like I’ll be there tomorrow. I just couldn’t bring myself to snap a quick picture, darn…see that’s a regret.But I did get a picture of their front door…I know it’s not thrilling now to see a red door, but we were sure giggling at the time!