325 MAIN a neighborhood conversation

WHAT BROUGHT YOU HERE?

today?
last week?
10,000 years ago?
you ended up here?
you never left?
from where?
when will you be back?
you’ll always be here?
why?

Place is what we make it and how we share it.

WHAT BROUGHT YOU HERE: 325 Main is a neighborhood conversation addressing questions of belonging—who belongs, where, and why?

We, Gretchen Burger and Sarah Cameron Sunde, started the hyper-local project from our art studio that we share with Cal Patch, in a storefront at 325 Main Street in Kerhonkson, New York. Over several years, during and post pandemic, we watched and experienced changes in our neighborhood, in part due to the influx of new people to our small hamlet of 2,000 in the Shawangunk area.

Special thanks to our collaborators: Chloe Annetts, Chris DePew, Cal Patch, Jodi Van der Kruik, Edgar Westerhof, 325 Main

One of those changes was losing our studio due to rising rents and the push for a new look on Main Street. It’s the old story troupe of “inevitable economic progress” that gets repeated generation after generation, in community after community, with winners and losers. Lower income folks and artists know it well.

We wanted to begin to understand those abstract dynamics in the context of our neighborhood by inviting neighbors into conversation. Our opening question: WHAT BROUGHT YOU HERE?

We’d love to hear your answer to this question as well!

That message was hard to understand. However, I am responding …

The trees brought me here.

The economy, I got priced out of Saugerties. SUMMER CAMP at the Dude Ranch. A series of fantastically unlikely events.

Our Commonalities. Our different views.

The pandemic – this was my lifeline. Surrounded by SKY and plant life and JOY and good NEIGHBORS. There’s currency for connection. Making art, sharing ideas, conversations. Tending to plants. A weekly ukulele jam.

I was searching for community and a place to call home.

I put an offer on my house that day. It’s a fixer upper and has been a lot of work.

An improbable place.

Somewhere in between those newly arriving and those who were raised here.

Local people have made our area what it is.

My family’s roots were planted here way back in the 1600’s. It was clear from the beginning that we were not “local.”

Our history runs deep.

We seem to be changing too quickly. NOT HERE, TOO. No middle ground for city and country folk to come together harmoniously.

My mother’s older sister’s farm, a magical place.

The Ukrainian Association. Pilgrimage to my grandfather’s place. The Borscht Belt. I will never forget that moment. Teaching people how to sew.

One last act of love and service for my mother.

As a motorcycle fanatic, the roads are amazing. Our son’s wedding.

We are always somewhere.

Sometimes for generations. A freak Google Map search:”where can we get coffee in the area after hiking in Minnewaska?” The magic of a quartz ridge. My best friend.

I feel grateful and hopeful here.

A counterculture vitality. She told stories of her family trips through this region as a young girl.

Space to think and breathe.

The rail trail from Ellenville. Friends–who reminded me of myself far far away in a land right here.

I recently lost her.

Wildflower farm visit. I never looked back. The first parking lot was completely full. We kept driving and found you!

So that’s why I’m here, standing in front of your sign, telling you this…