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William Harper, Wayside Cottage
William Harper, Wayside Cottage
Artist (c. 1841 - 1900)

William Harper, Wayside Cottage

Date1896
DimensionsSight: 24 × 37 1/4 in. (61 × 94.6 cm)
Object numberN0057.1996
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Museum Purchase
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextLong years before any efforts were made to accommodate the health-seeking populace, the mineral property of the different springs attracted those troubled with cutaneous diseases…
--History of Schoharie County, Sharon Springs, 1882

Nearby Sharon Springs is recognized by both the National and New York State Registers of Historic Places as an historic spa village. Mineral springs were used for medical treatments, but they also served as summer vacation spots for wealthy families hoping to escape the heat of the city. In 1825, David Eldredge began to keep boarders in a house he had moved near the mineral springs. In 1836, a New York company built a large boarding house ~the Pavilion~ which could later accommodate as many as 500 boarders.

Way Side Cottage is undoubtedly one of the “seven highly finished and furnished cottages” that were built by Pavilion proprietors in order to accommodate private families in close proximity to the Pavilion. William harper (1840-1919) worked as a “bath house superintendent” in 1900, and as a “bathing house overseer” in 1910. He lived on “Washington Street” in 1900 and on “Pavilion Avenue” in 1905, but it is unclear whether he and his wife Julia resided in Way Side Cottage, which was sadly lost to fire in the 1940s.
Exhibition History“Folk Art from the Collection of the New York State Historical Association,” Museum of American Folk Art, NY, January 11, 2000 – February 18, 2000.

"Drawn Home: Fritz Vogt's Rural America," Mennello Museum of American Folk Art, Orlando, FL, June 1, 2004 - August 31, 2004.

"Drawn to the Same Place: Rufus Grider & Fritz Vogt, 1885-1900," The Arkell, Canajoharie, NY, April 1, 2011 - August 14, 2011.
On View
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5798 STATE HIGHWAY 80
COOPERSTOWN NY, 13326
607-547-1400

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