New Lebanon: “Rural By Choice”

  |  September 8, 2014
new lebanon shaker village

This isn’t the first time we’ve been to New Lebanon here at Upstater. We explored the rural Columbia County town a year or so ago, but New Lebanon has popped up onto our radar thanks to the town’s new tourism promotion entitled “Behold! New Lebanon.” It’s an intriguing concept: Visitors can purchase tickets to experience first-hand an American rural town, with businesses, farms, art studios, and, in some cases, private homes opening their doors and showing tourists the inner workings of a modern community out in the country. A new visitor’s center has been built to help promote the town. The plan is being touted as “the Living Museum of Contemporary Rural American Life” by Behold! New Lebanon’s web page, and tours and events started the last weekend in August and continue through the first weekend in November.

Before you go envisioning re-enactors dressing up in period costumes and churning butter while ticket holders snap pictures, think again. This isn’t like Hancock Shaker Village or Colonial Williamsburg. These are real people introducing visitors to their rural-based lives in there here-and-now. And given the town’s rich Shaker history and architecture, New Lebanon is the perfect place to make this type of small town tourism work, if any town could. You can read more about Behold! New Lebanon and other struggling rural towns doing similar promotions in this recent article in the NYT.

Needless to say, we couldn’t help but get curious about what’s new on the market in New Lebanon. Turns out, there are more than a few beauties currently listed, more than we could show you in just five days. So, we gathered up our favorites ranging in price from the mid-100s to the mid-300s (in case you’re curious, Realtor.com puts New Lebanon’s average listing price at about $355,000 and the average sale price at around $175,000).

What’s your take on Behold! New Lebanon’s tourism effort? Do you think other upstate New York towns could benefit from this type of “museum without walls” approach to bringing in revue? We think it sounds refreshing and fun, and we’re looking forward to seeing how Behold! New Lebanon fares during their debut season. New Lebanon is located in northern Columbia County about 20 minutes west of Pittsfield, MA.

 

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